Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 25 September 2025
Committee on Defence and National Security
Update on Issues in the Reserve Defence Force: Discussion
2:00 am
Mr. Neil Richardson:
Recruitment takes many different forms. Often, it can be down to local factors. I know the Defence Forces had a fairly prominent stand at the ploughing championships recently so that is one of the larger events at which they will have a recruitment stand. They will recruit at the likes of air shows and any other sort of outdoor festival or event. Yes, there is engagement with schools. There is a pilot project that probably will come online in the relatively near future with third level institutions. That is a key demographic and area the Reserve is hoping to get involved with a little bit more. It is essentially down to local factors and where there are large groups of individuals who may be interested in either permanent or reserve service, the Defence Fores will go and pitch to them.