Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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54. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence his views on direct entry candidates to the Defence Forces. [36725/20]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Direct Entry recruitment for specialists into the Defence Forces is not a new measure and has been used to recruit medical doctors and engineers along with instrumentalists and conductors for the Defence Force School of Music for some years.

Many Defence Force specialities are developed in-house but in some cases this can have a long lead in time of up to 5 years. Opportunities to fill vacancies in a speedier fashion have been explored and the in the past few years the scope for Direct Entry has expanded, and continues to expand, as a means of filling specialist posts.

The interest that exists in applying for a career in the Permanent Defence Force through Direct Entry streams is demonstrated by the number of applications that were received for 8 Direct Entry competitions held in 2020.  These 8 Naval Service competitions were in respect of Chefs, Engine Room Artificers, Hull Artificers, Electrical Artificer, Radio/Radar Technician, Operations Branch Officer, Electrical Engineering Officer, and Marine Engineering Officer.

I am of course aware that there is competition in the private sector for many of the skills on demand in the Permanent Defence Force. It is for this reason that I have recently secured the agreement of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to allow for flexibility, with regard to starting point on scales, in the recruitment of certain specialists.

In addition, a review of recruitment practices and processes in the Permanent Defence Force, mandated under the High Level Implementation Plan Arising from Public Service Pay Commission report, examined atypical recruitment including Direct Entry as part of its work. This report will shortly be finalised.

I remain committed to returning the strength of the Permanent Defence Force to full establishment strength, mindful of the challenges that exist and that I have previously acknowledged.