Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Ms Sinnamon and her colleagues to the committee. I thank Ms Sinnamon for her comprehensive opening statement. Like other colleagues, I very much welcome the completion of 33 of the actions and look forward to the further 13 actions being completed by the end of this year. I also welcome the progress that has been made on pay and conditions. I have one question to ask on that. That was primarily for the private rank up to three star and for first and second lieutenants. It was not across the board to all ranks, NCOs, etc. I would welcome a comment on that.

I welcome that there is a focus on stabilisation and retention. Retention is vitally important. I also welcome that, as Ms Sinnamon has said to us here, the numbers have begun to stabilise. My understanding is that, over recent years, there was a net decrease of 50 personnel across all ranks per month. That just could not be sustained if we were to reach 11,500 personnel in the next couple of years. That is going to be a very difficult task.

The one query I have regarding the pay and conditions is in respect of the long service increments. The commission recommended that long service increments for other ranks required further evaluation. The timeline given by Ms Sinnamon's body for that evaluation was to be completed by March this year. Could we have an update on that, please? Another recommendation from the commission was the lance corporal rank being incorporated into the Defence Forces. The commission recommended that this rank be created but it also required further evaluation. The timeline given by Ms Sinnamon's body for that evaluation was September this year. Could we have an update on that, please?

Regarding procurement, some of the areas have already been alluded to and I do not want to go into them again, but the procurement process for the provision of new drone and anti-drone equipment was due to have been completed by August this year. Has that happened? Will Ms Sinnamon give us an update regarding that? The procurement for the provision of primary radar has been somewhat touched upon. It is due to begin in November this year. Is that on track to actually happen? The procurement process for the provision of a new upgraded armoured vehicle fleet is scheduled to begin early next year. Is that on track to begin as scheduled?