Mr. Martin Cooney:

To respond to the point made by Deputies Cronin and Stanton on bringing in people at their former rank and bringing in former members of the Permanent Defence Force, we would love if former members of the Permanent Defence Force could be brought in with their experience, knowledge and professionalism. I often get approached by personnel leaving who want to come into the Reserve but they have to come in at the lowest possible rank. I will give an example. I was an attesting officer for new recruits in the Curragh. I was swearing in people to the Defence Forces. A person who sat in front of me presented me with the sheet showing operational experience. That person had attended Sandhurst and had operational experience in Kenya, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Balkans.

He had done things we will never ever do, in any situation. He had to come into the Reserve as a recruit, without any recognition. He is currently employed as a military analyst by the BBC. We brought him in as a recruit. That is an insult. He was calling me "Sir" when he joined the Reserve. That is an insult. It was ridiculous. That is how we do not think laterally. We should be bringing them in and there should be a very simple process. You sign a form saying you want to go into the Reserve. You have already been security cleared, you have done your fitness and your medical. You should just be moved from one column to the next. Why is it so difficult?

There is another example of the madness. Section 53 of the Defence Act deals with enlistment of the PDF. An amendment was brought in, under section 53A, which provides that former members of the PDF may be re-enlisted. That is what is says. It does not say that they will be re-enlisted at their former rank; it just says they will be re-enlisted. I think that was a waste of time and we would have been better off using it to draft regulation R5, but we have added in a new section that I do not think we need. I will take any challenge on that. That is being used against us because section 55(1) deals with enlistment into the Reserve. We are being told that we need a section 55A to say that former members of the Reserve can re-enlist. It is also being used to say that we cannot re-enlist at our former rank, even though the very provision that they are using to bring in PDF at their former rank does not provide for that. It does not state that. It just said they may be re-enlisted. We are being told that we cannot re-enlist without a new provision in the Defence Act. How are we going to get that through? On a legal point, once you leave the Defence Forces, you are a person under the Act. There is no need to have a provision saying that a former member can be re-enlisted, because section 53 states that a person can be enlisted in the Defence Forces, subject to the Minister's requirements. I am paraphrasing. Why did we not just do it by statutory instrument if that is the way we are going to do it? We are being prevented from bringing in former members at their rank, on the basis of a provision that does not say that. It is a bit mad.