Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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On the actual strength of numbers, it is not true to say that we are one third down in staffing. There are some vacancies in the Communications and Information Services Corps, but there are also very strong contingents of people with a lot of expertise. We also have people on secondment in Tallinn, Estonia, which is the European research centre for cyber security response. We are very embedded in the national response and the cross-government response in cybersecurity protections. We are involved in this current incident also, working with the HSE and the Department of Health. I just want to give some reassurance around that.

We have made some progress in the area of gender equality. The last time I was in the defence role I spent a lot of time speaking to the Chief of Staff and the Secretary General about how we can attract more women into the Defence Forces. There has been a gradual improvement. In 2016 it was 6.2%; in 2017 it was 6.5%; in 2018 it was 6.7%; in 2019 it was 6.9%; and 2020 it was 7%. There is a gradual increase, but it is still only 7% of our Defence Forces. We must get that into double figures at least. Much thought is going into how we can make a career in the Defence Forces more attractive for women. It is working, but it is working far too slowly. It is one request I often get when I have conversations at the UN on peacekeeping. It is always asking if it could get more female peacekeepers from Ireland. In many of the very complex environments, which Deputy Berry will understand very well, and particularly in conflict and post-conflict management in parts of the world where sexual violence is being used as a tool of war, as well as being really good soldiers, female peacekeepers can do things that male peacekeepers cannot such as engaging with local populations and having private conversations that are often difficult and traumatic. We will continue to prioritise this and I thank Deputy Brady for raising it.

There are 600 women in the Defence Forces, which is a good story and can be made better. I would sum it up that way. I do not want to down play what we have done here. It is an improving situation. Ireland is one of the few countries in the world where it is an improving situation. Let us take the positives when they are there. When one considers the career of someone like General Maureen O'Brien, for example, and the role she continues to play, there are templates for hugely successful careers for women in the Defence Forces.

On Deputy Berry's 96 questions, I will get to them. I am joking, but the Deputy knows that I am happy to take a call from him at any stage on any specific questions. I will try to move through these questions quickly.

The strength of the Reserve Defence Force is nowhere near where it needs to be. There are a number of reasons for that. The main reason is why would a person join if he or she does not feel part of something that is active? Of course, some people will always want to join for the opportunities around training and career development, but ultimately I would like to see a broadening of the role for the Reserve, very much working in a complementary manner to the Permanent Defence Force at home and overseas. This is why the legislation is being amended, as we have proposed. We hope to have this done well before the end of the year. It is not complicated legislation. This element of the Reserve has become the focal point of that legislation now, rather than the other elements within it. I hope we will see a significant increase in numbers.

On some of the suggestions we have got, people who leave the Permanent Defence Force now are targeted as potential reservists in that they are given a brief on the Reserve and the options available to them. There is a genuine effort to attract new personnel into the Reserve but it is also a case of asking personnel who leave the Permanent Defence Force to consider joining the Reserve because their skill sets could be very useful, not just in a pandemic but more generally.

The Defence Forces are delivering on what they are asked to do but they have to work 120% more than they would otherwise have to. I take that point. I have heard it made during visits to various barracks and so on, and having spoken to leaders there about the multitasking of many Defence Forces personnel. Ultimately, we are a thousand personnel short of where we should be in terms of the overall Defence Forces number. The Naval Service experiences the really sharp end of the problem but it also features in the Air Corps and the Army. In some areas, however, we are not short at all. In others, there are many vacancies. This is not going to be solved overnight but it certainly needs to be solved in a sustained and planned way over a period. I hope the commission will be able to make a serious contribution by way of proposals in this regard. The idea that we are standing still or sitting on our hands on this issue is not true. There are many things going on, such as re-enlistment, recruitment, recommissioning and directly targeting people from the private sector. The latter initiative has been very successful in getting pilots back into the Air Corps, for example. There is a lot happening in this space but we need to do more. It is the job of the commission to consider this strategically.

On the question as to when we will see the legislation, I will introduce it as quickly as we can. Whether we will be able to complete it before the summer, I am not sure, but we will certainly try to get it passed before the end of the year. My target is to have it done before the commission reports, so it will have more options legally. What we do not want is for the commission to make recommendations on the Reserve and then for us to go through a 12-month process of legislation to facilitate that. The legislation allows us to do a lot more with reservists. I hope it will allow us to act quickly on the commission recommendations on the Reserve.

I believe I answered the question on the targets for the Naval Service. We do not have a target number of patrol hours. The arrangement with the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority is different. It is more qualitative and risk based but that is not necessarily an excuse for fewer hours; it is just a different approach.

On the question on whether we can spend €37 million on built infrastructure, I believe we can. There are currently infrastructure projects worth more than €53 million at different stages of development. This expenditure will increase as the programmes advance. It is projected that €100 million will be spent over the next three years and that €145 million will be invested between 2021 and 2025. There is no shortage of projects; it is a question of whether they can be delivered in the context of the disruption for which the pandemic has been responsible.

Capital expenditure for this year is likely to increase significantly beyond the estimated amount because there will be unspent money marked for current expenditure because we have enough in our Estimate for 9,500 serving personnel but we do not have anything like that number. Therefore, we have managed to solidify an agreement with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to transfer unspent money for salaries and allowances into capital and funds for other strategic investments. Our Estimate is probably an underestimate of what it is possible to spend in this area. I hope that gives us financial options. The main challenge is whether the Defence Forces and the Department of Defence can, working together, deliver the projects in a timely manner given the huge disruption so far this year, particularly affecting building projects.

On staff, it is a little unfair to make the case that the number in the Department is increasing and the number in the Defence Forces is decreasing as if Government policy were to increase the number of civil servants and reduce the number of serving personnel. That is not the case. We are bending over backwards to try to find ways to recruit more people into the Defence Forces and to limit the losses owing to people being targeted by the private sector. An increase of seven people in the Department is hardly a significant one. Believe me, they are hard-working, talented people. I work with them every day. As in other Departments, there has been a modest increase in the number of civil servants since the deep recession of ten years ago, during which the number of civil and public servants generally was reduced. The growth in civil servant numbers is very modest. The civil servants are working in a very focused way to help the Defence Forces to recruit more people. The better the teams in the Department, the more we will be able to improve the prospects for recruitment to the Defence Forces and have less churn in terms of losses. There are some signs of positivity based on the numbers of personnel leaving the Defence Forces last year and this year by comparison with previous years. There have been challenges associated with recruitment and training because of Covid restrictions, which have been a genuine problem. The Defence Forces are trying to respond to that.