Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Of course. I am sorry. He is gone. It was always a pleasure to converse with Dr. Harty as well. It is good to see Deputy Berry is here as well, so there are at least two of us. I look forward to a good, robust and positive relationship.

As the Deputy rightly said, about 500 people have expressed an interest in rejoining the Defence Forces, which is really encouraging. Those 500 will certainly not turn into 500 re-enlistments but it would be really welcome if we could re-enlist 100 or 150 people, especially those with particular skills. We have had some pilots come back and I only signed off on that the other day. However, we would like to see people come back across the Defence Forces and into all three services as well. I am disappointed to hear that a barrier to that might be the terms and conditions, which always seem to plague progress in the Defence Forces. I will not go into too much detail on that at the moment but I will be in touch with Deputy Berry about it.

We have sought an exemption regarding Lebanon. It is not solely up to us, as it does involve a decision of the Lebanese authorities and the UN. We hope the rotation can happen in June. I have no objection to using commercial aircraft to bring people home, including from Beirut to Dublin, if that is a solution that works. I had not heard the myth of it affecting our SECO campaign, so it must be a myth, because if it was a problem I would have heard it. I do not know where that is coming from.

Military air transport is a real weakness for us. We are unusual as a country, in that we cannot get to our own troops in Lebanon or in Mali. We rely on commercial aircraft or the defence forces of other countries. That works, but it is suboptimal in my view. The Defence Forces have invested a lot in recent years in new ships, equipment and aircraft, including a Pilatus aircraft. The CASA aircraft are being replaced at the moment. I have said to the Chief of Staff that given there are so many aeroplanes on the ground at the moment, and perhaps aeroplanes are inexpensive at the moment, that this might be an opportunity for us to invest and purchase aircraft that would allow us to get our own troops back and forth to Lebanon. There is always a sensitivity around the Defence Forces buying jets, as people will know, but this would be for the use of the Defence Forces not for the use of the Government.

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