Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The last intake to the Defence Forces was in September 2011, which is more than three years ago. While we have been training many personnel from around the world, we have not been training our own personnel to man our Army bomb disposal units. By the middle of this year, as a consequence of retirements and staff leaving as a result of the number of duties they are required to fulfil per month away from home, we will have fewer than half the active numbers of personnel we need to operate our bomb disposal units effectively. How great a priority is this problem for the Minister? When will we have our numbers back up to the level we need to maintain the four units across the country and deal with our international obligations?

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