Members of the FCA and Naval Service Reserve will be able to serve in operations overseas within two years, the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, announced yesterday. Peter Gleeson reoprts.
Mr Smith was in Kickham Barracks, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, where he launched the Reserve Defence Force Review Implementation Plan, paving the way for what he said would be a major restructuring of the Reserve Defence Force.
The Minister said that 2,600 members of the 12,000-strong new Army Reserve would be offered training up to the level of that received by members of the permanent Defence Forces. Future tasks for the reserve include participation in overseas missions and aid to the civil power at home.
Reserve units would be reorganised into a brigade format to mirror the permanent defence force structure.
Mr Smith said the decision to allow reserve members to serve abroad with members of the permanent force would be extremely helpful in addressing the shortage in certain specialities experienced by Irish forces on overseas missions. Changes in legislation would be made "very quickly" to enable reserve members to serve abroad within two years. Those getting priority would be cooks, engineers, fitters, mechanics and medical personnel.
Reserves would be given enhanced training and better resources. Uniforms similar to those worn by permanent members had already been purchased and extra payment was in the pipeline for reserve members. The Minister pointed out that annual recruitment had fallen to about half of the 1990 level and it was becoming increasingly difficult to retain trained personnel. "We hope to make it as attractive as we can."
The plan would involve extensive mergers both at battalion and company level, as this would be the key to providing enhanced training facilities for reserves. Although no existing FCA unit would close, the level of activity at some locations would change.
Certain personnel would be given the option of remaining at their present location or of moving. The creation of a proper organisational structure for the new reserve would require consolidation of units, and Mr Smith said he would be entering talks on this issue in the coming weeks.
A key objective was to ensure that most personnel would undertake 14 days of paid training each year. "Subject to financial priorities within the military budget as a whole, it is planned that the reserve training should continue to be increased and enhanced as the reorganisation process continues to develop."
He added: "The objective of this entire process is to put in place a better trained, better equipped and better resourced Reserve Defence Force which can stand comparison with any other similar force in Europe."
Meanwhile, when asked about how it had been incorrectly stated on the Fianna Fáil website that he held a diploma in public administration at University College Cork since 1962, Mr Smith said he had not looked at his CV for 35 years. "I did the full course and I'd love to go back to it for the diploma. I have everything else but the certificate."