Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. I welcome the fact that the report has been completed. I know it is still a draft report but it is now with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

The reason I asked the question is because, as those in the House will be aware, many officers who have joined the Defence Forces since 2014 are now leaving ahead of the mandatory retirement age because they are on reduced pension terms as compared with other public servants. We know that those in the Defence Forces are regarded as being different from other public servants in that the retirement age for them is not increasing up to the age of 68 . For those who are Defence Forces officers, the age at which they must mandatorily retire is between 56 and 60.

The other reason I tabled this question is that, unfortunately, because of the gap in pension which arises, many officers make a decision to leave the Defence Forces early. Many of them are leaving in their 30s. That is a time when they should be assuming leadership roles. It is important that we bring clarity and certainty to this as soon as possible because we need to ensure that we retain our officers within the Defence Forces.

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