Mr. Martin Ryan:

It was a somewhat convenient reason that was given. We have had retention issues, arguably for the last nine or ten years, in various forms. We need to get back to being an employer of choice. That is the thing. People are looking in and are not choosing the Defence Forces for a variety of reasons, most of which Lieutenant Colonel King alluded to. To be honest, if we get to the stage where people are happy and feel valued within the organisation, that is the greatest recruiting tool of all because they will recommend a career in the Defence Forces to those outside. When we look at our members currently - we have a survey ongoing that Lieutenant Colonel King alluded to - we see that more than 50% of our members would only recommend a career in the zero to ten-year bracket because that is all they see. It is because of the pension issues and various other issues, including the lack of value in terms of their working time. It is all coupled so when we talk about full employment, it is a rather convenient reason. To hang everything on that is a bit disingenuous, to be honest.