Mr. Conor King:

Before I address the Senator's questions and in response to the Cathaoirleach, I agree that when we came before the committee in 2021, it was a bit pessimistic. We were frustrated but we were projecting hope regarding the Commission on the Defence Forces. Since then, the degree and pace of implementation have really concerned us. Back then, we had 8,580 people in the organisation. We now have 7,600. We are supposed to be going this way but we are going the other way, which shows that the policies are not working. We have given many solutions to our colleagues in the Department of Defence and our Ministers and we would like them to be engaged with.

Senator Craughwell asked about the Commission on the Defence Forces. When 95% is quoted as a figure that is completed, one must look at this plan, which is the high-level action plan entitled, Building for the future - Change from Within. If members have the time, they can scrutinise the language being used to frame these early actions. The language we see is "commence further evaluation of", "progress implementation", "commence examination of options", "commencement of measures" and "explore options". It is okay to say that we have completed the exploration or we have completed the commencement of the evaluation but to the layperson, does that mean that it is delivered and implemented? Certainly not to our members and we are not seeing it on the ground. I do not know how many of the early actions have been implemented but it certainly is not 95% - in terms of the language, perhaps, but in terms of delivery, absolutely not.