David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When I was at the Department of Justice we put the national youth justice strategy together. I am very aware of the other impacts the reserve has on wider society by instilling self-confidence, discipline, statecraft and so on in young people, in particular. I am not looking for the witnesses to respond today. We could probably spend the whole meeting talking about the wider impact of a large Reserve on society in general in the context, for example, of building citizenship. Maybe the witnesses would let the committee know if they are aware of any studies that have been undertaken in this area. If they have any views on this matter, will they send them to the committee in written form? Maybe they should not comment now because we could spend the whole day at it. It is a very important area. I have seen instances where young people's self-confidence increased, their behaviour changed and so on as a result of being in the Reserve. Their self-discipline, the confidence and so on moved up.

In 2019, Mr. Gargan spoke about the cost of training and indicated that the State owed the Reserve millions. Will he provide an update, by way of a note, on the situation with respect to the cost to individual members who have to travel to training centres that are located at a distance from where they live, of supplying their own kit and equipment and on the other matters he mentioned in 2019?