Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 518: To ask the Minister for Defence the procedures a Latvian citizen living here must go through in order to join the Irish army. [37539/06]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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Entry to the Permanent Defence Force is either through the Cadetship Competition, Apprenticeship Competition, General Service Enlistment or Direct Entry Competitions which are held to fill vacancies in specialist appointments. All applicants for each of these entry streams are required to meet qualifying criteria.

The question of the recruitment of foreign-nationals to the Defence Forces is not a new one and Defence Force Regulations have always allowed for the recruitment of foreign-nationals to the Defence Forces.

The Cadet Competition is the entry level for recruitment as an officer of the Defence Forces. I have recently made changes to the Cadet competition to broaden the entry criteria thereby making it easier for qualifying foreign nationals/ ethnic minorities to apply for cadetships.

Candidates for cadetships are now required to:

1. Be a citizen of Ireland or,

2. Be a refugee under the Refugee Act 1996 or,

3. Be Nationals of EEA States (Member States of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) or,

4. Be Nationals of any other State who are lawfully present in Ireland and have five (5) years lawful residence here.

The special approval of the Minister must be sought for a person other than an Irish Citizen to be appointed as an officer of the Defence Forces. In such a case, and provided that security clearance has been obtained, I would normally recommend that such a person be commissioned to the Defence Forces.

The current requirements for general service enlistment are that applicants:

Be of a particular minimum height and physical fitness.

Be ordinarily resident in the State and satisfy such general and education qualifications as may be determined by the Minister for Defence.

Candidates from within the European Economic Area (EEA) and refugees have the same right to apply for general service enlistment as citizens.

Candidates from outside the EEA must have three years legal and unbroken residency, be in possession of a work permit and have security clearance.

The primary focus in recruitment is to attract people with the core competencies required by the Defence Forces.

My Department and the Defence Forces are fully committed to ensuring that all who wish to do so (and that includes ethnic minorities and foreign-nationals) are given the opportunity to join the Defence Forces.