Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Thank you for selecting the matter, a Chathaoirligh. I am delighted to welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond. It might be one of his first occasions to visit the Seanad as a Minister of State. He is an esteemed former Member. He also has very strong ties with my county. In fact, that neatly links in to what I am going to address, in that there is a very strong tradition in County Cavan of involvement in the Reserve Defence Force, RDF. To this day, there are very active units in the county and an active set of personnel, some of whom have reached officer level. It is very much a real issue in the county.

I propose to briefly outline five preliminary background points and then I will go into the specifics of the questions arising today. It is a great outlet for young people to be in the Reserve Defence Force, and it is an important one. It instils a civic spirit and lets them progress with individual self-development. It also instils loyalty to the State and self-discipline. It provides training in myriad ways. One person said to me that he was shy and that he had benefitted significantly from the training, camaraderie and teamwork. In the current context of shortages within the military, specialists within the Reserve Defence Force can be seconded to the Permanent Defence Forces, and can provide useful services, including going abroad on missions. The RDF has many values.

Could the Minister of State inform me of the current status of the 15 Reserve Defence Force centres, excluding military barracks or military camps? Could he also confirm the locations that are not staffed between 9 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. from Monday to Friday? In other words, I want to know which centres are not staffed. The corollary of that is, if not, why not? Could he further confirm which centres are not being used and if this is in line with defence strategy. Could the Minister of State indicate the total number of training nights held per location per year in each of the 15 Reserve Defence Force training centres since 2017, excluding military barracks or military camps? I am interested in getting that specific information and also a more general statement.