Áine Brady (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Rabbitte for his kind good wishes. The Minister for Defence has asked me to convey his regrets to the Deputy for not being available to respond to this matter on the Adjournment in person tonight but he is grateful to the Deputy for giving him this opportunity to clarify the position regarding recruitment to the reserve.

The Reserve Defence Force has undergone significant transformation over recent years on foot of the roll-out of the Reserve Defence Force review implementation plan. The intention was to significantly improve Reserve Defence Force capabilities and enhance interoperability with the Permanent Defence Force. The reserve has been re-organised along lines similar to the Permanent Defence Force with a three brigade structure and a dedicated Naval Service Reserve. These revised organisational structures were brought into effect in October 2005. Further progress has been made in implementing the plan over recent years with increased investment in equipment, clothing and the training of the reserve.

All of the actions taken in implementing the Reserve Defence Force review implementation plan were identified as being important motivators to recruitment and retention of members of the reserve. In addition, significant increases to the rate of gratuities paid to members of the reserve were introduced to improve retention and the uptake of training. Notwithstanding these improvements, membership of the Defence Forces Reserve has declined in recent years.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Government has introduced a moratorium on recruitment to the public service, with effect from 27 March 2009. As with the public service generally, the defence organisation is required to operate with reduced funding for 2009. In this context, all recruitment to the Defence Forces Reserve has been suspended for the present.

The current budgetary position requires difficult decisions. The Minister for Defence's primary goal is to consolidate the significant advances that have been made in developing the Defence Forces Reserve over recent years. He is anxious to ensure, to the greatest extent possible, that the current members of the reserve who have devoted significant amounts of their spare time to the organisation in recent years, are afforded the opportunity to maintain their skills. In this context, members of the reserve undertake both paid and unpaid training. In 2008 members of the reserve availed of approximately 81,000 paid man days. The reduced budgetary position this year will allow for approximately 60,000 paid man days.

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