Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. The Minister for Defence welcomed the publication of the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces in February of this year. The establishment of a commission on the Defence Forces was set out in the programme for Government and was a key priority for the Minister, Deputy Coveney. The members of the commission were drawn from a wide range of national and international experts. The publication of the report represents the culmination of 13 months of work and is testament to the considerable efforts of all those who contributed to it.

The report is wide-ranging and comprehensive. It contains 69 recommendations and together with sub-recommendations, there are 130 recommendations in total. The report proposes significant changes for the Defence Forces, including significant cultural changes and changes to human resources, HR, practices. It also includes proposals on high-level command and control structures and for the level of defence provision in Ireland. It challenges the status quoacross a range of areas and is forthright about a requirement for cultural changes in the Defence Forces. It proposes a range of measures to make the Defence Forces a more inclusive, diverse, equal and attractive workplace. The importance of the Reserve Defence Force is clearly stated, as is the immediate action required there.

The report poses serious questions regarding defence provision that we, as a society, must carefully consider. This includes the types of defence capabilities we should retain and the level of resourcing we are willing to commit to equip and train our Defence Forces for the roles we require them to undertake. The Minister hopes this report will provide the platform for real debate about the defence we need as a modern neutral European country.

The report sets out three indicative levels of ambition, or LOAs, namely, LOA 1, LOA 2 and LOA 3. LOA 1 would encompass current capability, LOA 2 would enhance our current capabilities and seek to address specific priority areas and LOA 3 would look to develop full spectrum defence capabilities to protect Ireland and its people to an extent comparable with similar-sized countries in Europe. The commission recommends a step up to LOA 2 in the short term, pending more detailed policy debate and decision required for higher levels of ambition. This step up to LOA 2 would require an additional €500 million per annum. LOA 3 would require expenditure of €3 billion per annum.

Clearly, there are matters that require careful consideration and, in some critical aspects, interdepartmental discussion and agreement. This includes the level of resourcing that may be allocated to defence and the governance framework that will be required to underpin the changes the commission has recommended.

Since the report was published the Minister for Defence has engaged in extensive consultation with ministerial colleagues and a range of other stakeholders, including the representative associations. This is a complex and technical piece of work on which the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces have been collaborating with a range of stakeholders, including other Departments. This has included detailed and very constructive discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The Minister for Defence will shortly revert to Government with a proposed response to the commission's recommendations and a high-level action plan. The implementation process will follow Cabinet agreement on the recommendations to Government.

There is significant work ongoing in the Department of Defence and Defence Forces, which the commission referred to in its report. This includes key issues such as the development of a capability development planning process, the work of the independent review into dignity and equality issues in the Defence Forces, ongoing procurement of equipment and infrastructure, direct entry competitions and the amendment of legislation relating to the working time directive.

I thank the Deputy for the opportunity to appear and for her interest in such an important matter.