A campaign to recruit 400 personnel to the Defence Forces by the end of the year will be launched on Sunday.
The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, who reviewed the Irish contingent for the United Nations transitional administration in East Timor at Sarsfield Barracks in Limerick yesterday, urged young people to consider such a career. He said that at a time when many young people were making decisions on their future, it was opportune to launch another recruitment campaign. The 28-member East Timor contingent is drawn from the 12th Infantry Battalion, stationed in Limerick and Kickham Barracks, Clonmel, Co Tipperary. Mr Smith said the quality and quantity of equipment in the Defence Forces had never been better, following the White Paper on Defence.
New equipment will include the delivery in the new year of 40 armoured personnel carriers, a second new Naval Service vessel and medium-range helicopters. "We can afford to buy the sophisticated equipment in communications that we were not able to buy in the past," Mr Smith said.
The recruitment campaign will follow on the same theme of the drive last March with "The Celtic Tiger needs its claws" being modified to "The Celtic Tiger needs more claws." By the end of this month, an expected 400 people will have joined the Defence Forces so far this year.
The Acting Chief of Staff, Maj Gen Colm Mangan, who takes up his appointment as Chief of Staff from Sunday, said the aim was to recruit another 400 personnel by the year's end. "There is a continued investment in our training infrastructure." He said the Defence Forces were represented in 14 locations around the world, with more personnel abroad than there had been for a long time.
Under the Partnership for Peace programme there would be co-operative training opportunities with other European armies, he said.