The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, has announced an initiative to re-establish the reserve military force, which has dwindled to a fraction of its official strength and is failing to attract recruits.
Under the initiative, the FCA (An Forsa Cosanta Aitiuil) will be reorganised and renamed the Army Reserve.
The plans for a new reserve defence force include the naval reserve force, An Slua Muiri.
The FCA has a supposed strength of 14,000 volunteers, but for the last decade less than half this number of reservists have attended annual training camps. The FCA has also not been involved in service with the regular Army since 1989.
In recent years FCA members have expressed concern at what they see as the neglect of the force. Its more active members have sought inclusion in regular military duties and postings on United Nations missions such as the Irish UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) Battalion.
As part of the reorganisation, the Army Reserve will have a core element of active and highly trained soldiers who can be integrated into regular Army units to increase their strength in emergencies.
Most of these will have already served as soldiers in the regular Army.
The other, larger reserve contingent will consist of a three-brigade formation reflecting the structure of the Defence Forces. These reservists will, it is hoped, include civilians who wish to participate in military training.
The new structures were outlined at a meeting addressed by the Minister in Thurles on Saturday.
Other meetings are to take place on December 2nd at Custume Barracks, Athlone, and in Dublin in the new year.