Mr. Colm Campbell:

Mr. O’Connor and I spoke to what they called the transition to civilian life course. It was the pre-retirement course. The vast majority of people leaving the Defence Forces do not retire anymore. The word "retire" suggests that they are going to a pension, or something like that. They are going out to civilian life. If I could mention one thing, it is that there is a huge number of skilled people in the Defence Forces. It is moving them on to civilian life. For instance, they could easily transfer to the public sector, Departments and State agencies, but they are probably precluded from doing so now through pension abatement and issues like that. It is probably something that could be looked at.

They get fantastic skills in the Defence Forces, but sometimes those skills are not codified in language that an employer may understand. If, for example, Mr. Murray was a sergeant major, we all know what a sergeant major means but the prospective employer may not know that. The sergeant major is in charge of and runs the HR for 400 or 500 people, for instance. They should put it in that plain, simple language. We believe that the testimonial, as it is called in the Defence Forces, which is the equivalent of a reference, needs attention as well.