Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)
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No, it was an excellent answer. I acknowledge the point about patriotism, and we see in other jurisdictions people talk about surge capacity but, whatever one chooses to call it, the ability to scale up is crucially important.

I wish to come to the pay piece in a different way. I apologise; perhaps I should know this. The issue of the nature of decisions people make occurs to me. There is the Defence Forces pay side of things, but there is also people's awareness of their entitlements and so on. Are the allowances that people receive for duties in the Defence Forces assessable for things such as the working family payment or social housing thresholds? These can be disincentives for people when they take on additional hours in any job. In the context of the Defence Forces, which are so important to the State, I can imagine someone saying, "Well I am getting this much from my job. If I do too much with the Reserve Defence Force or if I continue with it, I will lose my place on the housing list or lose my working family payment, or my wife or husband will lose their payment." Is that something the witnesses have experienced? Are the allowances assessable for some of those payments and entitlements? Does it act as a disincentive to people taking on additional duties?