Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)
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I concur with Deputy Carthy, not in the latter part of his remarks but where he wished the Secretary General well. I wish him great success. Hopefully we will be two more years or near it together yet, working here, and there will be no election for a long time. To move into the issues, I would like to focus on the Reserve Defence Force. Deputy Carthy dealt with some of it at the latter end of his contribution but I have a number of issues here. The commission recommended the establishment of an office of Reserve affairs. Could the Secretary General elaborate on how that office is developing and when it will be fully functional? There was a recommendation in the commission report for a regeneration plan for the Reserve Defence Forces. Could I get an update on that? It is so sadly and badly needed. There is a recommendation in the commission report that 200 air defence personnel be from the Reserve. Could the Secretary General comment on that, and on the Naval Service Reserve of 200? Significant numbers of those in the Reserve Defence Force are reaching the age of 50 and are being forced to resign. What is the Department going to do if there are not enough people coming in and others are being forced to resign at 50? What would the Secretary General and the Chief of Staff suggest could be done there?

Recruits waiting for medicals in the Reserve remains a huge issue. Can the Secretary General tell me why it would not be considered to use places like the Beacon or any other private institution to get the waiting lists for the medicals out of the way? Can a retired permanent force person rejoin the Reserve Defence Force and if not, why not? It would seem a logical thing for somebody who would have great experience which they could bring to the Reserve and ideally hold the office they had.

In the Permanent Defence Force, there is recognition by the recognition bodies for third-level qualifications, such as Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI, and the Higher Education and Training Awards Council, HETAC, of qualifications achieved in the Permanent Defence Force. I understand this is not the case in the Reserve Defence Force. That is a significant error if it is the case. Like all my colleagues, because of the nature of my work I read all my local press and listen to local radio. Because of my former hats and so on I am in and out of schools and meet a lot of teachers. I see no visible evidence of recruitment to the Reserve Defence Force. This was raised in respect of the Permanent Defence Force earlier; to be truthful, there is not enough visible evidence of recruitment there either. I do not see it. It is not long since my children left secondary school and I never remember them saying that they had an officer in uniform in, as Deputy Stanton mentioned. I have not seen anything in my local newspaper. Senator Wilson has a very acute brain and he lives in that area. I do not know if he has seen stuff I missed. I have not seen an advertising campaign in our local media for the Reserve Defence Force or the permanent one.

There is also a delay in swearing in the Reserve Defence Force personnel. I would like our guests to comment on that. I will leave it at that because others raised the issue earlier and there is no point in repetition. By way of a general remark, there is nobody in this room who would not welcome our guests' commitment to cultural change and to ensuring that women will be welcome and able to exist happily, be fulfilled and have a proper uninhibited career within the Defence Forces. It is sad that we are on 7.26% and the UK is on 11.5% in terms of females within the forces. To go back to the Reserve Defence Force, it appears to me that it has been made and remains a Cinderella and there is no serious intent there. If that is the case it is a tragedy in terms of potential recruitment to the Permanent Defence Force and also in terms of personal development of so many young people right across the country. It was a wonderful way to develop civic-mindedness, leadership capacity, patriotism and so on. The benefits are very obvious and sadly it has been left on the back foot.