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propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 174 together. As recognised in the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces and accepted by the Government, the Defence Forces need to be capable of delivering military effects across the cyber domain. To this end, my Department published … high-level action plan for the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. This included recommendations relating to the Defence Forces' cyber defence functions. As a result, the Defence Forces have established a joint cyber defence command. This command will be able to conduct full-spectrum cyberspace

programme for Government sets out a number of commitments relating to national security as well as priorities for recruitment and retention in the Defence Forces. In this regard, the previous Government approved a move to a Permanent Defence Force capability equivalent to level of ambition 2, which requires … increase of €145 million on 2025. These funds include, among other things, a provision for the recruitment of a net 400 additional Permanent Defence Force members per annum. In order to meet Government targets, the Defence Forces are making concerted efforts to ramp up recruitment. Last year

welcome an increase in Defence Force numbers, given that this has been a matter of discussion in these Houses for a number of years in terms of the recruitment and retention crisis. The advance we are talking about is quite modest given the context. We are far from … commission on the future of the Defence Forces. We are below establishment and the minimum acceptable level of personnel. I want to focus on officers. Governance in the Defence Forces is a key factor when it comes to national security. There are 330 officers in the Defence Forces

doubt about the importance of their work in providing pastoral care and maintaining the morale of members of the Permanent Defence Force, most particularly when they can be under difficult or testing conditions while serving abroad. The contributions and sacrifices made by Defence Forces chaplains over the years … widely recognised and appreciated by the Defence Forces, my Department, the Government and the people of this country. Chaplains are not subject to military law, other than when accompanying members of the Defence Forces on active service. Chaplains are responsible for the pastoral care of members

Migration has the lead role for cyber security and the Department receives inputs in the security domain from An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces. The National Cyber Security Centre, which, as is appropriate, is now part of that Department, is the authority responsible for cybersecurity … State, including incident response, cyber resilience and information provision. To develop this cyber defence capability, the Defence Forces have established a joint cyber defence command. This new command will be capable of conducting the full spectrum of cyber defence operations at home and overseas, to enhance national cyber

upcoming EU Presidency. This is completely and utterly down to this Government and its predecessors in how they have completely neglected our Defence Forces. They have allowed the Defence Forces to become depleted. It is an absolute disgrace that the Government has left us in this vulnerable position … full radar picture is an indictment of successive governments. This argument should not only apply to the EU Presidency. The neglect of our Defence Forces over the years has resulted in our not being able to police our waters and our skies and being seen as a soft

measures that were put in place in January that finally removed the blanket exemption from the working time directive for the Defence Forces. That is an important recruitment tool and it is an even more important retention tool. It is also an important recognition of the important work … done by the Defence Forces and the need to protect our Defence Forces personnel. Obviously, there was complexity in introducing the working time directive for our Defence Forces, including the Army. As a result, alternative compensatory measures were put in place. Good faith now needs to be shown

Deputy. As he will be aware, in January of this year the blanket exemption from the Organisation of Working Time Act for Defence Forces personnel was removed and most Defence Forces personnel now enjoy the protections of the Act. Due to their specific nature, a number of activities … additional funding beyond existing resources are to be addressed in line with the normal Estimates process. Most people understand this and want our Defence Forces to be able to avail of the working time directive. Most people will also understand that there are times when those

deal more that can be added to that. Fr. Murphy, in particular, is regarded with great affection and trust by members of the Defence Forces. He responded to that attack with great courage and a great deal of grace as well. It is an important role. This … discussed at the RACO conference. As outlined, the legal advice is that chaplains are not members of the Defence Forces but it is difficult to reconcile that with the reality that they wear the uniform, they are employed overseas and they are remunerated by the Department of Defence

disclosure - a very serious protected disclosure - have a conflict of interest. Here is another example. This is to do with members of the Defence Forces who came to me because they alleged they were working with dangerous chemicals that affected their health and even their ability to have … children. They allege that a presentation you get when you finish in the Defence Forces was denied to them because they had made a protected disclosure. When I put in a parliamentary question about this to the Minister, this was the answer I got: I would like

have seen some media speculation in relation to this. I have been honest with the House. A major opportunity and challenge for the Defence Forces is going to be to secure a multi-role vessel programme and the upgrading of that. That is where the focus … operational capability of the Army, the Air Corps and the Naval Service is maintained and developed further in order to enable the Defence Forces to carry out the roles assigned by the Government. The capital funding of €1.7 billion allocated to defence in the latest national development plan

consolidates, with amendments, the existing provisions of the Defence Acts 1954 to 2015 concerning the dispatch of members of the Defence Forces for service outside the State. The general scheme also proposes amendments to existing legislation to provide for the suspension of members of the Defence Forces … event that the UNIFIL mandate were not extended, Ireland would have been in the position of having to plan to withdraw its Defence Forces personnel from UNIFIL immediately following the expiration of the mandate. I believe it is untenable, therefore, for the Government to continue with this policy

days; the extension of the Naval Service tax credit for a further five years; the application of the working time directive across the Defence Forces in January of this year, subject to certain exemptions; and the extension of the provision of private secondary healthcare to all members … Permanent Defence Forces. There has also been significant progress on pay with the most recent increase paid in August of this year. Recruitment is presently ongoing through a wide range of pathways, including general service recruitment, re-entry schemes and eight Naval Service-specific direct entry competitions. Applications

make much sense to me. The Department and Minister for justice lead on cybersecurity and national security; that is clear. Obviously, the Defence Forces and the Garda have specific roles and they feed into the National Cyber Security Centre. Regarding command control and who the structures within … Defence Forces are to answer to, it is the normal military chain of command. At political level, we have also recently established a national security ministerial council, which I am a member of and the Taoiseach obviously chairs, as well as the Minister for justice. That enables

this point we agree. A key priority for Ireland and our Defence Forces, our Naval Service and our country has to be to ensure we have as best an understanding as possible of what happens in our seas, below our waters. A key priority … ensure the operational capacity of the Defence Forces is maintained and developed to get us to the level of ambition 2, LOA2, as defined by the Commission on the Defence Forces, CODF. The CODF recommended the development of a primary radar capability to ensure that Ireland can maintain

improvement with a specific emphasis on community support measures and strengthening the resilience of our critical infrastructure. Turning to the role of the Defence Forces, as the Deputy will be aware, they are not the first responders in either the preparedness or the recovery phases of events. Their … authorities in dealing with the various challenges that can be present. In the context of recent weather events, the supports provided by the Defence Forces included: the provision of helicopter flights carrying ESB personnel in order to identify the extent of damage to the affected network; the collection

April, the Defence Forces will have submitted to me, and I will publish, a workforce plan that shows how we get to where we need to be in terms of personnel by 2028. That will require a number of pinch points to be addressed. We are now seeing … real interest in joining the Defence Forces. We can all take a sense of encouragement from the fact that people want to wear the uniform of Óglaigh na hÉireann and the numbers this year will be up on last year because more people are seeking to join

State by the people who stood up to protect the State. I want to highlight the horrific experience of the members of the Defence Forces, the Justice Alliance and the Women of Honour. This case is a systematic failure embedded over many years by silence made possible … State that looked after itself before justice. The Defence Forces Justice Alliance submitted more than 50 protected disclosures. These disclosures included reports of bullying, harassment, abuse, sexual assault and institutional wrongdoing. Many of these disclosures related to the Minister and senior officials within the Department. The protected disclosures

often, people want to serve. The Minister spoke about the quality of the people he inspected recently. The men and women of the Defence Forces are our greatest asset. Even at times when payments and allowances were less favourable, people wanted to join. The difficulty is that many … people private industry wants. In many instances, the challenge we have faced is that highly qualified and very capable members of the Defence Forces, due to their difficulty in making ends meet or the pressures they are under due to the cost of living crisis, see more attractive

discussion where we look at other neutral countries that are not members of military alliances and the investment they make in their defence forces to ensure they can secure their neutrality and protect their borders in a balanced and reasonable way. To go back to my fundamental point … conversation about how we safeguard our neutrality, how we stand in solidarity with our European allies and how we make sure our Defence Forces, of which we are all very proud and which have a proud legacy of peacekeeping, are equipped properly and that we have the equipment

southerly direction from Scotland towards Wales. It is being tracked all the time by the British Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Lasers have been used from the ship to blind the eyes of pilots trying to track it. It is important during our Presidency of the European … patrol our territorial waters and ensure Ireland, Inc. and the European Union are safe and defended from rogue elements and the Russian defence forces, which are quite malignant forces at the moment. This Government is committed to ramping up investment in the Defence Forces

Section 1 of the Act defines a member in this context as "an officer, non-commissioned officer, private or seaman of the Defence Forces". RACO is limited in law to representing officers of the Permanent Defence Force and chaplains are not classified as officers so they cannot

There has been extensive consultation with civil and military management and with the Defence Forces representative associations with regard to implementing the working time directive for members of the Defence Forces and the associated proposals for a legislative framework. We have a conciliation and arbitration subcommittee

That ship had military grade detection equipment on its hull. That was not an accident; it was a message. Are we prepared? Our Defence Forces really needs to look into how we can look after our seas. How can the EU, as a whole, protect our energy? This … because we are not part of a military alliance. Neutrality without capability is vulnerability. How do we respond? One part is obvious. Our Defence Forces need the capability to monitor, defend and respond to both cyber and physical threats. As a neutral, sovereign nation, strengthening our defence

spent quite a lot of time discussing the level of ambition that was set out in the Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. It is now time to put that into action. I appreciate that we have increased spending on the military and on defence … then not operating them is madness in the extreme. Let us make sure we address this and that we deliver for the Defence Forces and the people who serve in them. As I said, one of the ways we can do that, and I hope this is something

Deputy Aisling Dempsey asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if he will ensure that the Defence Forces and his Department adhere to their responsibility of providing balancing statements for Defence Forces personnel on an annual basis, in line with signed agreements and Ombudsman for the Defence Forces

aware that a number of digital media accounts purporting to be operated by a person (details supplied) and promoting recruitment to the Defence Forces regularly share content and opinions on political and international affairs, and if these accounts are not sanctioned by Government or the Defence Forces … policy of Government in relation to the use of social media channels by and featuring serving members of the Defence Forces, in uniform, providing commentary on political and international affairs. [67084/25

McGuinness asked the Minister for Defence whether the digital media presences, across multiple platforms, of a person (details supplied) are part of Defence Forces or Department of Defence communications; whether posts on these accounts are sanctioned by the Defence Forces or Department of Defence; whether the opinions expressed

Erin McGreehan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the specific instances where the Triple Lock mechanism has prevented the deployment of Irish Defence Forces personnel in situations where the Government, the Defence Forces, and the Oireachtas were otherwise willing to proceed; and if he will make

February 2025, for an update on any progress by military authorities in their consideration of the report and recommendations of the Defence Forces Colour Vision Working Group on colour vision requirements for entry to the Defence Forces; when she will publish this report; and when the recommendations will

plans to amend the Finance Bill 2025 to reverse the increase in tax liability on pensions to Gardaí and members of the Defence Forces that is negatively affecting recruitment of senior Gardaí and members of the Defence Forces (details supplied). [58240/25

Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the number of members of the Defence Forces who have protection orders or barring orders against them; the protocol within the Defence Forces for dealing with an individual member of the force with a protection order

Parliamentary Question No. 179 of 17 June 2025, if she or her predecessor authorised the use of social media influencers by the Defence Forces for recruitment and communications; and her views on whether there may be conflicts of interest caused by social media accounts advertising careers … Defence Forces while simultaneously sharing partisan content related to live conflict situations and international politics. [67083/25

Deputy Colm Burke asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the role the Defence Forces will play in supporting EU defence cooperation initiatives during Ireland’s presidency of the council of the European Union in 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60426/25

Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if he will provide an update on improvements to pay and conditions for members of the Permanent Defence Force arising from the €485 million allocation for defence pay in budget 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60415/25

Deputy Colm Burke asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the measures being taken to improve recruitment and retention within the Defence Forces in light of the €145 million increase in defence funding in Budget 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60423/25

Byrne asked the Minister for Defence to outline plans to ensure that cadet pay is ahead of the minimum wage and that the Defence Forces remain an attractive career path. [66902/25

Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Defence the number of members of the Defence Forces that have availed of the opportunity to continue working after the increase in August 2024 in the mandatory retirement age from 60 to 62. [67036/25

Ward asked the Minister for Defence if any military personnel or Department officials attended a recent conference in Israel organised by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on their intensive multifront campaign over the past two years, or any recent training conference or seminars organised

Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Defence if the Defence Forces are under contract with a company (details supplied); the length of the contract; when it commenced; and the amount paid to date for the contract. [64366/25

Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Defence if the Defence Forces have ever held a contract with a company (details supplied); when the contract terminated; and the amount spent on the contract. [64367/25

Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Defence the additional costs incurred by the Irish Defence Forces for security provided at Shannon Airport due to US military use of that airport from 2010 to 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [64014/25

asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment for an update on the State's efforts to develop industrial enterprise on the former Defence Forces firing range lands at Oranmore, County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62173/25

will submit a business case to the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation to allow former members of the Defence Forces (with less than 21 years’ service prior to the enactment of the single pension scheme, and with greater than 26 weeks break

asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the measures in place to support the physical and mental health outcomes of veterans of the Defence Forces. [62446/25

taken to raise the issue of the interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla and the detainment of 16 Irish citizens by the Israel Defence Forces at an EU level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61226/25

Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the budget allocation for Defence Forces Equitation School in the years of 2024, 2025 and 2026, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61135/25

Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the process that local community voluntary groups must meet in order to have Defence Forces School of Music play at a community event; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61442/25

Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the additional costs incurred by the Irish Defence Forces for security provided at Shannon Airport due to US military use of Shannon Airport from 2018 to date in 2025. [61625/25

Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if he will direct Defence Forces based in the lower harbour of Cork to write against the proposal for an incinerator in Ringaskiddy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62004/25