Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)

I understand the paid training was reduced by approximately two thirds, which would be in line with the McCarthy recommendation. Will the Minister confirm if that is the case? In regard to recruitment, replacement recruitment up to a certain level was sanctioned by the Minister's predecessor in May last year. The level of recruitment into the Reserve Defence Forces has been nowhere near what is desirable for quite some time.

In the current position, where men and women under 25 are unemployed, is there not a very strong case for opening recruitment in the RDF? As the Minister knows, one of the suggestions from the RDFRA was that people be given six weeks of training and introduction into the Reserve Defence Forces in the leaving certificate year. In general terms, there is much concern among the Reserve Defence Forces about the length of the recruitment process. It has been suggested that this extends to more than six months but there does not seem to be a particular justification for that. Will the Minister consider the process from application to recruitment, as the period involved should be greatly reduced? There is a grave concern that people lose interest because this process drags on for so long.

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