Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The security of the State rests with An Garda Síochána, with which the Defence Forces have a very close relationship in this regard. I mean this in the best way that we should look forward rather than back. I take the Deputy's views on board about the lack of recruitment from areas where there were barracks in the past. It is one of the hardest decisions. The Deputy was in government, as have I been, when military barracks were closed, and it is not a nice thing for an area. One sympathises with people in areas where it happens. One sees great appetite to join the Defence Forces in those areas, and after the barracks have been gone for a few years, there is a decrease in the number of people wanting to join.

That is why we have to change recruitment and it is one reason that I have a review of recruitment ongoing so we can see how we can get it back to the communities where previously we had barracks. It has frustrated me but we must look at recruitment quite differently from how we do it now. The process is ongoing, with an independent chair looking at the review of recruitment as part of the independent pay commission. The White Paper that was published last week suggests that we need more people in the areas of cyber safety management and that the people in the areas where we had critical mass previously may not be suitable for that now. There are different security threats to the State and our decisions on recruitment and retention must reflect that.

See this speech in context