Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am aware that there are no provisions in the Defence Acts but it is within the Minister of State’s gift to change that and make those provisions available, if so required. The Minister of State’s predecessor, Deputy Coveney, stated, as identified in the White Paper, that there may be professional skills that on occasion are not readily available in the PDF and that arising from that there may be individual members in the RDF who, as a result of their civilian qualifications and skills, may be able to complete certain tasks and bridge the gap where there is a shortfall of skills in the PDF and that a panel of professionally qualified people, known as the specialist reserve, should be put together. That White Paper issued last year. Has this reserve been established, and if not, why not? When does the Minister of State propose to do that?

See this speech in context