David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and his officials and thank them for the presentation. There is a huge amount of work to be done. As Deputy Brady has said, one of the issues involved is the timescale for what will happen. It would be useful for us to have an idea of what the targets are and when. Without targets, things can slip. I am anxious to know if the Minister can provide a date as to when these actions will happen. That will really get things moving.

I will focus on the Reserve. There is talk of a Reserve assistant chief of staff and that each service chief should be supported by that person. When will that person be appointed? Deputy Brady mentioned the regeneration plan for the RDF that was supposed to be published by the end of the year. Will that happen? If not, why not? Hopefully, it will. Where is the joint office of Reserve affairs with senior staff from the RDF and supporting the PDF? Will it be established pretty soon? There is an urgency to all of this. I know the Minister agrees. We want to support him in driving this forward as best we can.

There is talk of a clear and focused recruitment plan for the RDF with milestones and annual reviews. Where is that? It can take a long time from when a recruit applies to join the RDF to when he or she is attested, as there are so many steps and jumps.

What is happening with respect to safeguarding the jobs of civilian staff who join the RDF and are on service for a period so that when they want to go back to the civilian job, it is there for them and they do not suffer in any way? What can we do to ensure that? It is a major concern preventing people from getting involved and, particularly, going overseas in specialist roles if their civilian job is not safeguarded. We have had discussions about legislation coming down the track on that. Where is that at?

On diversity in the Defence Forces, will the Minister indicate his plans and those of the Department and Chief of Staff to ensure people from the many diverse backgrounds in Ireland are encouraged to join the forces at all levels? Will a policy be articulated and published on that? Deputy Brady has covered most of the other stuff I wanted to ask.