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

Apologies for not being in the committee room today but I have a problem with one of my eyes and am minding myself. I welcome the witnesses and thank them for their presentation. I will not go over some of the questions colleagues have already asked. The last time the Chief of Staff was in I asked him about the aptitude tests, the psychometric testing. When people visit the Department of Defence's website the first thing they come across is, "practice your psychometric test here". Has Ms Sinnamon practised that test at all? Did she or members of her team have a go at it? I suggest it is quite off-putting and from the figures I received over the last number of years, in some years up to 50% of people who actually attempted and completed a test failed it. That is probably after practising it. If we talk about recruitment and this is the first thing people come up against, they might not even complete the test because it is quite off-putting and quite long. Has Ms Sinnamon actually practised this test herself to have a look at it? This is the very first thing youngsters will come across when they visit the Department's website and I put it to her that it is extraordinarily off-putting and quite difficult. It is a major obstacle course for people to be involved in this. I know it is a very practical exercise but people have told me they tried the test and gave up.

My second question is whether Ms Sinnamon has looked at or will look at the length of time it takes to join the Defence Forces from initial application and expression of interest right to attestation, at all levels? I put it that it takes quite a long time and during that period people can lose interest and move on to something else. Is that part of what Ms Sinnamon is looking at?

My third question is around the revitalisation of the Reserve Defence Forces. Can Ms Sinnamon comment on how she sees that going, what timescale we have there, and what has been done to date in respect of that?

When were the head of transformation and head of strategic HR positions advertised? How is it taking so long for those appointments to be made? The last time the Chief of Staff was in was months back, I think, and he said it was imminent. These are hugely important positions but we still do not have them.