Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, Senator Craughwell referred to the number of personnel leaving the Defence Forces. Both of us are nominated by PDFORRA, the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers, RACO, and the Irish Conference of Professional and Service Associations so we are well aware of what is happening within the Defence Forces. I second the Senator's call for a debate in the House with the Taoiseach and-or the Minister of State with responsibility for defence. Our most valuable resource is our Defence Forces. It is defending our country. We have one of the top armies and navies in the world in terms of their loyalty to the State. I wish fair sailing to the officers and crew of the LÉ Samuel Beckettwhich has been deployed to the Mediterranean as part of Operation Sophia to follow up on the excellent work carried out by the LÉ Niamhduring the previous mission. I wish Lieutenant Commander Eoin Smyth and his crew of 54 a very safe and successful mission to the Mediterranean.

We should be very proud of the work they are carrying out on our behalf. They are putting themselves at risk for the sake of refugees. They have a tremendous track record of saving lives. If the media takes note, both the Army and navy are now recruiting. The closing date is 22 April. A person has to be under 25 to join the Army and under 27 to join the navy. There are good opportunities there for young men and women to join our Defence Forces and I would encourage them to submit their application as quickly as possible. I wish them success.

The points raised by Senator Craughwell are very real. We have 1,094 personnel and eight ships, which are mainly deployed for fisheries protection. Some of the ships are undermanned. The Leader comes from the Haulbowline area of County Cork and I am sure he has a lot of contacts within the Naval Service so I ask him to arrange an open discussion to report on progress and where we can increase the number of personnel in our Defence Forces.