Mr. Eugene Gargan:

On the questions Senator Craughwell asked, he made reference to a two star. For those who have not served in the military, two star is a grade of private just above a recruit. They embark on their basic training and some initial training, but they are not fully qualified at that stage. The Senator asked a number of questions. To start with, he asked questions in relation to the reorganisation and the structure of the RDF. He also asked questions about recruitment. He queried the response, or lack thereof, of the Secretary General, and I think I have addressed that already. He also asked about the personnel function within the Department of Defence and the closure of barracks.

Before we get into that, there has been talk about recruitment and I might hand over to Mr. Ecock to address the function of the medical corps in all of this. We are pointing out that one of the key blockages in recruitment is getting people through a number of stages. Security clearance, for example, is one of those. There are also the issues of medical testing and fitness testing.