Mr. Martin Ryan:

We would have felt that the decision to have a commission on the Defence Forces and the publication of its report represented that commitment. This is what led to the greatest level of optimism in recent times, bearing in mind that we talk about a lack of optimism today. To say that many members hung their coats on the outcome in deciding whether to stay in the organisation would not be an understatement. That shows the trust we placed in the report and the implementation of its recommendations. The report was met with much fanfare when launched and was very much welcomed by the organisation, all told. Based on the information given, we all briefed our subordinates in a timely manner. Again, there was optimism that the future was looking good and that we were finally looking at a level of ambition. Ambition 2.5 was what was spoken of. The investment in capability and the investment in people seemed to be real. The early actions, once published, led to the optimism behind the belief that many of the key things would be delivered in the following six months. I have already spoken about the impact of reporting and 95% delivered in terms of the choice of language as opposed to what was actually felt on the ground. That is fine for reporting up, but the feelings on the ground when we read the material were despair and, to be quite honest, more cynicism.

On the impact on strength overall based on a net loss of 500 per year and the question of where we will be next year, it is a matter of the associated risk thereafter. We cannot comment on operations but it would appear that what happened last week was a timely reminder to everyone, including ourselves. We all felt a great sense of pride looking at the operation and the follow-on, but there would be questions with regard to risk in terms of how that operation had to be conducted.