Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I thank our guests, Ms McCrum and her team and the Chief of Staff and his team, for being here today. I commend the Defence Forces on the ongoing operation in which they are engaged. I understand the Ranger wing is involved in a very serious and dangerous operation off the coast as we speak. I send my best wishes to all involved.

In the context of today's opening statements, I have been reading back over quite a number of the debates that took place in advance of, and subsequent to, the publication of the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. The language has not changed and, unfortunately, nor has the trend. We are still in a situation where more people are leaving the Defence Forces than joining in any given year. According to the Chief of Staff's figures, there have been 244 general service recruits so far this year but the exit figure stands at 481. Already there have been more exits than the projected maximum level of recruits for this year.

To me that indicates that we have not yet addressed the fundamentals of the problem. As I say, much of the language used here has been articulated to this committee in various guises over a long number of years.

I will ask the following question in order that we have something to benchmark into the future. When will we see the trend reverse in the information and strategy that have been outlined today in terms of the strategic framework? In what year will we see more recruits than exits? In what year is it envisaged that we will see the establishment figures for each of the services reached? In what year will we see the level of ambition, LOA, 2 figures being reached, as outlined by the commission?

I refer to the working time directive. I received a reply to a parliamentary question five months ago that is almost identical to the language Ms McCrum used earlier regarding the commitment to address the directive. Given that we know it will require legislative change, when will the legislation come before the Houses? That would give us a good indication of when we will see the working time directive implemented. Is there a cost associated with the implementation of the working time directive and, if so, will that cost be included in budget 2024? If not, that too will have to viewed as an indication that it will not be implemented next year, which I fear will be another year in which the trend I have spoken about continues.

As regards the recruitment process, the figures the Chief of Staff highlighted are stark. Is there a belief, a view or an acceptance that the recruitment process is broken? It strikes me that there should not be any sector where there are 4,694 expressions of interest in a particular post and a recruitment level of only 244 people, which is what we have so far this year. That indicates that there is a problem somewhere and that it is a fundamental one that needs to be addressed. Most people would be surprised, if they were not aware of these issues, at the process involved in this.

When we hear the figures, we can see where there are particular declines. There is an issue with the recruitment of women in particular and it is clearly not the willingness of women to express an interest in joining the Defence Forces. Some 13% of those who expressed an interest are women, yet only 7% of Defence Forces members are women. There is, therefore, a problem between the two ends. Looking through the numbers that have been given, when it came to the first stage and the psychometric tests 10% were women, so that is a drop. Following on from the pass rate of the psychometric test, again 10% are women. When it comes to being invited to the fitness test and interview, again 10% are women. All of a sudden, however, we see where the decline starts to emerge because of those who do not show up for the fitness test, some 14% are female, and of those who fail the test, 20%, which is a relatively low proportion, are women. I wonder whether there is recognition in the recruitment process of the different strengths of the genders and whether that is being missed in terms of the added value. I also wonder if there is a focus on the wrong areas in terms of the attributes that could be brought to bear.

On the capital investment the Defence Forces need, I ask again that we deal with LOA 2 produced by the Commission on the Defence Forces. It set out an expenditure need of €2.45 billion in 2020 money over ten years, which would amount to an additional spend of €245 million each year. LOA 2 was published last year and we hope to have it implemented in ten years’ time. What percentage of the additional expenditure required has been provided? What expenditure level are we expected to reach by the end of 2024?

A major bugbear of mine is the current position of the Reserve Defence Forces, which are moving towards reaching critical levels. Do the witnesses agree that we are on the verge of being as well-off saying we do not have Reserve Defence Forces because of the numbers? The Chief of Staff mentioned that 20 people were recruited this year. That is worse than pathetic, to be frank. What are we going to do about that? The Secretary General mentioned that 95% of the 38 early actions in the implementation plan are complete. The intention was to establish an office of Reserve affairs within six months. Is that considered by the Department and the Defence Forces to be one of the actions that has been met, given that this committee has heard that while the office has been established, it has not been adequately resourced to fulfil the role the commission envisaged for it? I am a big believer that if we want to address the recruitment and retention issues within the Defence Forces, we have to get the Reserve right first. That is the best body from which to potentially recruit in the future. We must encourage young people to engage in the Reserve in the same way as we saw engagement at one point in every town and village in the State. We would have seen the Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil, FCA, van pulling up and people from all walks of life would participate in the FCA, as it was once known. That is virtually gone and it is more of a surprise to witness members of the Reserve on our streets and in local communities. Therein lies a big part of the problem we face. I would appreciate comments on those issues.