Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I just wanted to reassure the committee that we are more than aware, as are the Defence Forces, of the challenges that we face with recruitment and retention, which are not unusual. Throughout Europe recruiting and retaining people is a big challenge. We need to get on top of it and we have a plan to do that. We will spend a considerable amount of money to back that up. We need to assess it on a monthly basis to ensure the pressure remains on everybody, including me, to do everything possible to turn those numbers around as quickly as we can.