DF Commission Report

I imagine the reshuffle would be relatively limited to the FG side, not very hopefully defence would be elevated.

There will be no significant reshaping of portfolios <12 months from an election.

Personally I have no major issue with Defence and Foreign Affairs being a joint portfolio. I cannot envisage any scenario where any current Minister, if in charge of Defence alone, could have advanced the programme of change any further than it has been.

In any case, in the current geopolitical situation, traditional Irish foreign affairs concerns have been largely replaced with issues which are matters of Defence also.

Maximum age for recruitment into military reserves to be set at 53 (irishexaminer.com)

Not sure how much practical difference it will make, as I don't see huge numbers of people in their 40s and 50s wanting to join the reserves. They mention it as a way to get former PDF&RDF members into the reserves, but they can currently re-enlist up until age 45 anyway.

A second thing I note is that the outsourcing of Medicals has been presented by the government as a done deal, with Micheál Martin stating in the Dáil earlier this month that "There is a contract in place to outsource the Part 2 medicals over a four-year period for both the PDF and the RDF, amounting to some 10,000 medicals in total...".

But from the attached article; "(Neil Richardson,RDFRA Rep) said that a proposal to outsource medical examinations to a private company had not come to fruition."

So who is lying....?

But they do form a blockage in the system. They're the source of the biggest delay in the recruiting process.

He's going to be Taoiseach for 11 months. Assuming the Tánaiste's portfolios do not change, then I can't see the general approach of this Government changing very much either.

Will be interesting to see what Harris' remarks around policy will be when he is appointed.

If it'll even stretch that far!

This seems to be the issue all over NATO's European members, including Britain.

Only Macron is trying to alert people about it, but that is largely because he wants to put the spotlight on Marine Le Pen's Putin affiliations ahead of the Euro elections.

Lets see if Varadkars successor takes any of this on board. Not very optimistic myself.

lets do nothing…. mission accomplished…. tea and medals all round

Looks at the number of protests, debates, airtime etc the Gaza conflict and Palestine/Israel gets compared to the state of the DF…

Sadly he’s focused on where the majority of voters are focused on.

Taken from DOD website:

The Tánaiste and Minister for Defence, Michael Martin, today welcomed record levels of capital funding for Defence over the next two years.

The revised allocations of €215 million in 2025 and €220 million in 2026 will boost ongoing efforts to modernise and upgrade equipment and infrastructure in the Defence Forces.

Announcing the increased capital allocations, the Tánaiste said:

“The increased capital funding is a clear demonstration of Government’s strong commitment to invest in, and support, the transformation of our Defence Forces into a modern, agile military force, serving at home and overseas, while also responding to increasingly more complex global security threats and events.”

The increased capital funding will accelerate transformation of the Defence Forces in line with the Strategic Framework and objectives set out in the Detailed Implementation Plan for the Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces (CODF).

It will see investment in a range of equipment including Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Equipment, Helmets and Body Armour, Chemical, Biological, Radiological & Nuclear (CBRN) Equipment, and Night Vision Equipment, as well as progressing critically important equipment projects such as the development of Military Radar Systems and Sub-Sea Awareness Capabilities, Naval Fleet Management and Replacement, and the purchase of new fixed and rotary wing aircraft, including a Military Transport Aircraft

In addition, the increased allocations will accelerate progress on a significant number of Infrastructural projects over the coming years, such as;

• Upgrade and increased capacity of accommodation in Haulbowline Naval Base;
• Development of a new purpose-built Casement Military Medical Facility;
• Upgrade and Refurbishment of McKee Barracks;
• Development of new CIS Workshop Facility, Defence Forces Training Centre;
• Development of a new Army Ranger Wing (ARW) HQ Building;
• Upgrades to various accommodation, storage, training and gym facilities in military locations throughout the country

Oh my God! The country is on a war footing!

True, time and again that's been demonstrated, but why just accept the silo's? I mean other departments have done much more procurement than the DOD/DF (to be clear not saying that they are necessarily good at it, just they have had more capital budgets to play with), why not pull in some extra personnel to increase Project Management/Procurement if anyone was serious about fixing the issues?

Or alternatively push more into the "easy" areas like the base facilities and advance them much more aggressively, that wouldn't hurt the retention issues?

That's not even going for any "radical" ideas.

Tom has now gone on extended sick leave