Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

For clarification, I have the table here and can be straight up with the Deputy. The strength of the Army in 2023 is 6,305 while that of the Air Corps is 704 and that of the Naval Service is 755. I am extremely concerned. I have been in this position for six months now and I am very worried about the situation in the navy. We have had meetings with the flag officer, the Chief of Staff and Department officials on the matter. Obviously, there is full employment in the country with the unemployment rate at 3.8%. I outlined a range of initiatives we are undertaking earlier. One of the areas to be addressed earlier, as part of an interdepartmental approach, is that of the current retirement age. We have extended that to 2024 but in my view, we need to extend it further. Discussions on that are ongoing because such action would potentially have read-across to members of the Garda and fire brigades with regard to fast accrual pensions. There are issues there but it is one effective route that we can take to retain people within our Defence Forces for longer. As I said earlier, with regard to the navy, we are looking at other measures and at what we can do in respect of specialist positions and disciplines where we are losing personnel. Industry is now offering very high rates to people, particularly trained personnel in the Army. That is a significant phenomenon given the buoyancy of the economy and the skill levels of many within our Defence Forces. Others are seeking those particular skills. This is a matter I keep under active examination. Today, I again met with the Chief of Staff and the Secretary General of the Department to maintain the pressure on this issue.

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