Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is well recognised that there is a shortage of personnel. Personnel used to be allowed stay in the Defence Forces until they were 60 years of age and that changed in 1994. I do not suggest that all of the personnel be allowed to remain because I understand that depends on their role in the Defence Forces. If we take, for example, paramedics, they have to retire, depending on their rank, at 50 years of age. The following day, however, they could go to the HSE or to the National Ambulance Service to get a job and could continue with fairly similar work to 66 years of age. It seems anomalous that the PDF is losing very skilled personnel who may want to stay on just because there is an arbitrary age limit there that does not reflect the particular skills level and the physical attributes needed for those skills.

See this speech in context