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

The biggest challenge we have is in personnel. At the moment, the numbers in our Defence Forces are a long way short of where we need to be. That is the case not only in the Naval Service but also in the Army and the Air Corps. We must turn the tide to start gaining momentum and achieving a sense that we are adding people each year, as a net figure. As I said earlier, if we are to achieve the targets that have been set for us by the commission, we need to add at least 3,000 people to the Permanent Defence Force in the next six years. We also need to add approximately 3,000 people to the Reserve Defence Force in that period. That is an extra 6,000 people in the defence family, between Permanent and Reserve Defence Force personnel, in six years. That will not be easy to achieve, given the fact that we have been losing numbers in both forces for quite a long time.

What I can say in responding to that challenge is that there is an extraordinary level of partnership between the Defence Forces and the Department at a very senior level, the likes of which I have not seen before. The relationship between the Chief of Staff and the Secretary General is very strong. They are both absolutely determined to make, in some cases, radical changes, if necessary, to be able to move our numbers in the right direction. We made some decisions yesterday, having got approval from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, that can help in that regard. People who join the Defence Forces now, once they are beyond their first six months' training, will be on a salary of just under €35,000 per year, as opposed to the €30,000 salary they would have been on until now. That is a result of the changes we have made to access to a military service allowance. Recruits no longer have to do other things, such as mark time, as it is called in military speak, for their first three years. We are doing things immediately to try to turn the tide. The biggest challenge we have is not me getting more money at budget time, which is important and needs to happen, or going through the tendering system to get big, modern and necessary equipment into our Defence Forces; the biggest challenge we have is the human challenge to persuade the right kinds of people in sufficient numbers to join the Defence Forces and stay in their roles thereafter.

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