Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I think I heard the Tánaiste correctly when he outlined the figures indicating that so far this year there have been 20 new members of the Reserve. He said there is room for improvement. I would suggest that is the understatement of the year. The first problem we have, as we have with the Defence Forces overall, is that there is a retention crisis. It was put very eloquently at the committee today that we have to deal with the retention crisis in the Defence Forces as opposed to putting all efforts into a recruitment campaign, not to suggest the latter is not also needed. I recall in my youth, which I like to think was not that long ago, that in virtually every town and village on a particular evening of the week we would see a van pulling up with Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil, FCA personnel from across the local community. We do not see that any more because our Reserve Defence Force is essentially non-existent. If we are serious about addressing the recruitment and retention crisis within the Permanent Defence Force, surely we have to recognise that the Reserve is the best place to create new recruits. If we do not have a Reserve, the overall issues within our Permanent Defence Force will also be more difficult to address.

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