Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for his further response. I genuinely believe that if we had a stronger Reserve Defence Forces, it would be a great conduit for enlistment in the Permanent Defence Forces. I represented two Border constituencies during many bad years on this island. I saw the importance of the Reserve Defence Forces along the Border working in the communities that I have the privilege of representing and living in.

Over the years the Reserve Defence Forces recruited many young people who may have been vulnerable to other unsavoury groups. Many of those young people went on to have star careers in the Permanent Defence Forces. We should have a strengthened Reserve Defence Forces. It can be an extra welcome ingredient in getting more people enlisted in the Permanent Defence Forces.

The Tánaiste will have the opportunity to talk to some of the people who would have served in the Border areas during the bad days. Unfortunately, that went on for many decades. I knew many Army personnel at all levels who I lived among and who I came across in my daily activities because their presence was needed in our communities. They will give the Tánaiste a clear and positive message about the importance of the Reserve Defence Forces and what they could do in the future, not going back to the work that they did in the past but as a recruitment process to strengthen the Permanent Defence Forces as well as carrying out their own important work.

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