Mr. Martin Cooney:

I have to revisit the past to explain what has happened in respect of paid training and major exercises. There have been many iterations of the RDF since World War Two, but pre-2005 we were the FCA, An Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil, which was essentially a local defence force. Each unit stood on its own as a stand-alone unit and it was Reserve-centric. It was focused on training outputs related to the Reserve unit in a Reserve-friendly manner. In 2005, we became the Reserve Defence Force. On a similar basis, we changed the structure whereby we had units that mirrored a permanent unit. If there was a permanent infantry unit, there was a mirror Reserve unit. It was supposed to create greater interoperability, and greater relationships between the two and so on. There was still a Reserve-centric unit focused on Reserve training in a Reserve-friendly manner.

In 2013, without any meaningful consultation with anyone, we were shoehorned into what was called a single-force concept. The single-force concept got rid of all the Reserve units and imposed them on full-time units. All of a sudden, permanent Defence Forces units had all these reservists. Some of them had never served with reservists. The way the military was restructured they received no training or lectures on reservists. We might as well have been aliens coming down to them. One of the biggest issues we had is they did not understand our paperwork or processes because they were different. I feel sorry for members of the Defence Forces because they were there in full-time employment and were given this other job on top of all the other stuff they were fighting, with no help to do it.

How does that come into paid training and major exercises? If a reservist is put into a full-time, permanent, professional unit, the objectives of that unit are focused on full-time professionals who are paid to work predominantly during the week. Reservists train predominantly in the evenings and at weekends. If a unit commander has limited resources and wants to achieve outputs for a permanent unit, he or she will focus on permanent outputs because that is what he or she is really being judged by, and the RDF has just been imposed on that commander because someone thought it was a good idea. Therefore, training will be during the week during normal working hours and planning will not be engaged in.

In the past, a Reserve unit sat down at the beginning of the year to work out when it suits most people to go on an exercise, which is usually during the summer when students are on holidays and people can take holidays from work. Builders' holidays were from end of July to the beginning of August. A permanent unit does not work like that. Its members usually go out during the most miserable times of the year, October and November, to ensure they can work in the most miserable conditions. The old saying in the permanent Defence Forces is, "If it's not raining, you're not training". That does not suit the Reserve because we are working. Our busiest time of the year is the run-up to Christmas. We cannot get out to go on the paid training for major exercises. We do not have employment protection to do it. We then have Reserve units offering little cells within the permanent unit to try to do their own training but they do not have the critical mass and the personnel. If they want supports, they have to do it on a full-time basis. That has meant the depletion of major exercises, where reservists can upskill, and the ability to go on paid training throughout the summer, which was a staple for many reservists. That is the issue. An organisation with one focus has been shoehorned into another that has a totally different focus.