Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Minister that there are extremely exciting times ahead for our Defence Forces. The report of the Commission on the Defence Forces provides so many avenues, not just in terms of operational capacity but in terms of structural reform. The Minister mentioned the position of head of transformation, and we need to learn from the lessons that have sadly worried us in terms of the treatment of certain members of our Defence Forces over the years and the importance of having a people-focused, soldier-focused, sailor-focused, pilot-focused approach is so important to our military. It comes back once again to the need to ensure that when members of the Defence Forces are stationed domestically, when they are in-country, they should have as balanced a life as possible.

That is when we look at the retention of troops and other people to ensure that their commutes to their places of work will be accessible and that we do not have people driving up from Cork to Rathmines and having to sleep in their cars.

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