Mr. Neil Richardson:

I might take those. We see, as might be expected with regard to the distribution of the reserve at present, that the vast majority of the reserve is located in Dublin and Cork cities because it follows population centres. Where there is really a dearth of reservists is the north west. We have quite disparate training centres spread out very far in counties like Galway, Roscommon, Mayo, Sligo and Donegal. You see there that the Reserve numbers dwindle off to very small numbers spread across the various outposts or training centres in that area. The north west would be a key area for priority.

The Air Corps Reserve does not exist yet. There is no one in it. Our understanding is that at this time, military management is currently developing what it wants it to look like and what roles the Air Corps or air force Reserve will have. After that it will be populated by reservists but at the moment it is in a kind of planning phase. It is not off the ground just yet, no pun intended.

On the Naval Service Reserve, the Commission on the Defence Forces report and the RDF regeneration plan speaks about essentially doubling the size of the Naval Service Reserve. Its current establishment is 200. It is going to go up to a minimum of 400 personnel. We would expect to see attempts to attract professional mariners, who work in the maritime sphere, into this new Naval Service Reserve and for new units of the Naval Service Reserve to potentially pop up in coastal locations around the State. Again, that is part of a project being driven by military management, which is not due to come to fruition for another couple of years. These are the early stages for the growth of those two arms of the Defence Forces.