Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Some 80% of the Permanent Defence Force in Ireland is in the Army, with 11.3% in the Naval Service and 8.5% in the Air Corps. This compares, for example, with another island nation, New Zealand, where 27% are in the air corps and 23% in the naval service. The Irish Maritime Forum made a number of interesting comments and constructive proposals in this regard. There is no doubt that, for an island nation, our Naval Service is underdeveloped and, indeed, undervalued. Comparable nations such as New Zealand have a much greater component in their defence forces. That said, we accept that New Zealand is much more isolated than Ireland. However, Ireland's maritime area has been extended from 410,000 sq. km to approximately 1 million sq. km since the publication of the White Paper back in 2000. In that context, and looking to the future, would the Minister share my view that we need to look at the future development of both the Naval Service and the Air Corps?

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