Mr. Eugene Gargan:

Deputy Carthy asked several questions. We would not dispute anything at all in his starting narrative. He has a good handle on the issues that are, or certainly were, faced owing to the closure of military premises, barracks and posts.

He asked specifically about Defence Forces Regulation R5, which pertains to reservists specifically, and the relationship with the Department. I am in the best place to answer the question because it was me who wrote to the Secretary General.

First, I am not personally criticising the Secretary General by any means at all. She is a particularly busy woman and there is an awful lot on her plate. There are a couple of issues that concern us, one of which was in relation to keeping the R5 document live. When it was redrafted we were told - and we took this in good faith - that would be like any operational document in that it needed to be updated periodically. As the environment changes and as things move, the regulations need to be kept up to date. It has been incredibly challenging to try to make those changes that are required. When we engage with the Department, the engagement is always professional and positive. The people we deal with are second to none. I absolutely stand over that and I have no problem at all in saying that. They are all very professional individuals. However, they appear to face resourcing issues themselves. When the Department is seized with a crisis, whatever that may happen to be, we are dropped. We will not have any currency at that point in time because they will have to go and deal with something else. We are therefore put at the bottom of the list. As Mr. Richardson said in his opening address, we recognise that we are reservists. We are not the Permanent Defence Force. We are not right up at the front of the line, but we cannot remain at the back of the queue indefinitely because we will just wither away. Then, you will have lost a resource that was available to the State. You will have lost all the goodwill and all the capability. It is incredibly difficult to re-establish something like that.

Regarding issues on which I wrote to the Secretary General, there has not been a response. I am sure something will materialise fairly soon and I am sure it is being dealt with.