John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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18. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the efforts being made to establish a unit of the Naval Reserve in Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5786/25]

Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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36. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the efforts being made to establish a unit of the Naval Reserve in Louth; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5810/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 18 and 36 together.

I would like to start by acknowledging the important role played by the members of the Reserve Defence Forces and I would like to thank them for their continued commitment. I had the opportunity to meet with their representative body recently, RDFRA, and we had a very constructive discussion of the continued development of the Reserve.

The strategic objective for the RDF is the development of a Reserve Force that can seamlessly train, operate and deploy on a voluntary basis, with the Permanent Defence Force, both on-island and overseas. This is strongly reflected in the Report from the Commission on the Defence Forces (CoDF).

In line with a recommendation of the CoDF pertaining to the Reserve, the Defence Forces Office of the Reserve Affairs (ORA) was established in 2022 to oversee and support a holistic approach to the revitalisation of the RDF. In July 2024, that Office published the RDF Regeneration and Development Plan which contains 27 individual Actions designed to operationalise the recommendations contained in the Commission Report, for the RDF.

The CoDF recommendations relating to the structure and strength of the RDF, have also called for an Air Force Reserve of 200, and an increased in the Navy Reserve from 200 to 400.

This Regeneration Plan recognises that a transformation of the force structure is required for the development of the RDF and Action 22 relates specifically to the transformation of the Naval Service Reserve.

In that context, and within the framework of overall recommendations of the CoDF, the military authorities have advised that as part of the overall Naval Service re-design process, the structure and expansion of the Naval Service Reserve is to be considered. However, no recommendations on possible locations for future Naval Service Reserve units have as yet been considered.

In the meantime, it is very encouraging to report that recruitment has increased substantially in 2024, with a total of 268 members inducted, comprising 242 Army Reserve personnel and 26 Naval Service Reserve personnel. This represents an increase of 203 inductions, or 312%, over the 65 personnel that were inducted in 2023. A further 7 members have been inducted to date in 2025 which includes 2 Naval Service Reserve personnel.

This welcome development indicates that, despite being in a very early implementation phase, the initiatives contained with the RDF Regeneration and Development Plan are generating positive change. This momentum is on a positive trajectory towards a regenerated, trained RDF, capable of fully supporting the Permanent Defence Force, when required.