Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming in and delivering what must be one of the most depressing presentations we had in this room for quite some time. I will start on a positive note. I was in Islandbridge at the weekend for the remembrance ceremony. The RDF provided the tents, food service, etc. I met five of the most enthusiastic young people I have ever encountered in my life. Two of them are two-star privates and the others are still working their way into the system, but it was fantastic to meet them and hear their enthusiasm. The RDFRA representatives must feel they are running the wrong way up an escalator and it is getting faster as they run, but all is not lost because there are people out there who want to be part of this wonderful organisation and we need to put that down at the start.

On the recruitment stream, we had the reorganisation in 2012 and did away with officers, the company quartermasters and drivers in the various villages around the country. Consequently, in Kilrush, for example, there is no longer a military presence in the town. If I live in Belmullet and want to join the RDF, do I travel to Finner Camp or to Galway? I do not think there is anywhere else I can join, but I am open to correction. We have no structure. There is no infrastructure for the RDF in the country. I might be the most enthusiastic young fellow in the country, but there is nowhere to go. Deputy Carthy spoke about the Tuesday nights. I remember fellows in uniform standing on every street corner in Galway. There were engineers, infantry, artillerymen and whatever; we were all in different units. We used to go in early on a Tuesday night because we would get a land rover out to Shrule and Headford to pick up guys 20 miles from town and it was a wonderful experience. This is important because the Permanent Defence Force is finding it difficult to recruit, but the recruiting stream came through the RDF. It did not matter whether someone went for the cadets to become a commissioned officer or wanted to join up an enlisted person. Those of us who served in the FCA, as it was in my time, excelled when we went into the Permanent Defence Forces and got promoted pretty quickly. I am referring to any of us who put a bit of effort into it. Do the RDFRA representatives agree the reorganisation of 2012 sounded the death knell for the RDF because it is now so difficult to find a place to join? A person can only join now if he or she lives in a city close to a barracks.

We had representatives of the Civil Defence before us some time ago. A person can walk into a Civil Defence unit and join tonight with no questions asked. The person is then a member of the unit and there are no age restrictions or anything. We put the RDF through hell and back. To think that over 1,000 people applied to be called up and only 5% got through. It must be soul-destroying for the association representatives. It is totally unacceptable the Secretary General of the Department has not replied to them. A Secretary General is obliged to make contact and respond to communications when he or she gets them. We must ask serious questions about that.

I mention paid training.

In my day, we got a fortnight away every year. Some people recalled sending their child away for his summer holidays. More people referred to it as training. Some of us were 18 for an awful long time, but that is neither here nor there now.

For a lot of guys who joined, the paid training was not just about the money. It was about getting away, being part of the unit and experiencing training. I put a Bailey bridge, for example, across the River Shannon in my time in the RDF. I did not do it myself, of course, but I oversaw it. We could do those things. One cannot do that now. A couple of hundred men are needed to put a bridge across the Shannon, so I assume those type of exercises are dead in the water. I would be interested to know the witnesses' opinions on that.

We appointed a high-powered deputy Secretary General in charge of personnel some years ago. I think it was 2017. I objected to that decision. I thought it was a waste of resources and that we should have put the resource into the Permanent Defence Force. Did that person in that role do anything for the RDF? Did the witnesses even meet that person with respect to recruitment? I am interested in finding that out.

To summarise, I am interested in the impact of the 2012 reorganisation and the closures of barracks. I am interested in the difficulties associated with recruitment, how they might be smoothed out and what assistance the Department is giving. Clearly, if it is not answering letters, that is a problem. I commend the witnesses because the RDF has just over 1,000 members but they continue to pound the streets, bang the table and try to reorganise. The witnesses should not have to be doing this. They are dragging people kicking and screaming to rebuild the organisation they love, which is not as it should be.

Deputy Carthy referred to other countries and the way they do it. It is no secret that I served in the British Army. Back in my day, the Territorial Army, TA, was as much a part of the army as the permanent army. TA members went overseas and even today, the British Army deploys overseas along with its reserve forces. The final issue is the position regarding protection of employment for those who are overseas. I will leave it at that.