Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)
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Question 37: To ask the Minister for Defence the Governments view regarding the suggestion by PDFORRA that non-nationals be allowed to join the Irish Defence Forces and through membership of the Defence Forces earn citizenship; if there is international precedent in terms of the existence of such a system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27772/07]

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 52: To ask the Minister for Defence the number of foreign nationals that have been recruited into the Defence Forces in each of the past five years. [27720/07]

Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 37 and 52 together.

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

As the Defence Forces do not categorise personnel by nationality there are no figures available of the numbers of foreign-nationals employed in the Defence Forces. However the system is currently being reviewed to ensure that this data can be captured in the future.

I know that people from diverse backgrounds have already been employed in the Defence Forces, but this has mainly been in certain specialised areas. This has worked well — albeit on a limited scale. Currently the emphasis of the Minister is on ensuring that there are no barriers to ethnic minorities or foreign nationals joining the Defence Forces.

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 Cadet Competition is the entry level for recruitment as an Officer of the Defence Forces. As you are aware, the Minister has made changes to the Cadet competition to broaden the entry criteria thereby making it easier for qualifying foreign nationals to apply for cadetships.

The Minister has asked the Chief of Staff to review recruitment into the Defence Forces at all levels and to implement changes that would facilitate recruitment from among cultural and ethnic minorities. I share the view that this can only enhance our Defence Forces.

The Military Authorities are equally committed to increasing the participation of people from ethnic and cultural communities in the Defence Forces. To achieve this, the Defence Forces are:

Developing a strategy for Cultural Diversity Management. A new Defence Forces advertising campaign will be launched to reflect its strategy for cultural diversity.

Establishing links with all ethical and cultural community groups based in Ireland, in order to brief the groups on the Defence Forces and its current entry requirements. The groups will be invited to forward submissions to the Defence Forces on their views of service in the Defence Forces and to highlight any barriers they deem unfavourable to recruitment that may exist.

There are generally more applicants for positions in the Defence Forces than places available. The Department and the Defence Forces are fully committed to ensuring that all suitably qualified candidates who wish to do so are given the opportunity to join the Defence Forces. The primary focus in recruitment is to attract people with the core competencies required by the Defence Forces.

The appropriateness of foreign-nationals being allowed to join the Defence Forces and through membership of the Defence Forces earn citizenship has not been considered. The granting of citizenship in any circumstances is primarily a matter for my colleague the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in the first instance.