Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have had much discussion with the Defence Forces around civilianisation, because we can recruit more quickly if people do not have to go through military training procedures and so on. We need to be careful with that because the Defence Forces operate on the basis of structure, discipline, common standards and so on. We need to ensure that if we introduce civilians into the Defence Forces, we do it in a targeted way that does not undermine military structures, efficiencies and so on. There is a role for that. Again, we can look at other militaries to see how that is being done, where certain specialties can be brought in either on contract or by bringing people in to fit into the Defence Force structures as civilians, just as we have seen in Garda stations, for example, with An Garda Síochána.

We need to have an open mind on all of this. We need to work with the Chief of Staff, with his team, with the Department of Defence and with the head of transformation to deliver the numbers we need to deliver over the next few years.

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