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THE DEFENCE FORCES have announced plans to recruit close to a thousand new personnel.
Defence Minister Paul Kehoe today announced a major recruitment drive for 2017.
The recruitment is aimed at honouring the Government’s commitment to keep the strength levels of the Defence Forces – which includes the Army, Naval Service and Air Corps – at 9,500 personnel.
In total, the forces are seeking to recruit 860 new personnel across all services this year.
Commenting on the launch of the drive, Minister Kehoe said that it was “extremely significant” and was targeting general service recruits, apprentices and cadets.
“It opens up significant opportunities, across the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service, for young people to serve their country as members of Óglaigh na hÉireann,” said Kehoe.
“For each individual, it also offers a unique career opportunity and first class training.”
Kehoe also spoke about the importance of diversity and inclusion in the Defence Forces.
He encouraged women and “new Irish” in particular to join up.
“It is important that Óglaigh na hÉireann represents the richness and diversity of the community it serves,” he said.
The Defence Forces welcomes and respects all, irrespective of gender, creed, ethnicity or sexual orientation.
Recruitment for general enlistment is already underway. People can apply on military.ie
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Fair play…Irish Navy only navy in the world where you can cycle home for lunch.
Yeah and if you fall overboard you get stung by nettles.
@Kev Creed: Or save young kids from drowning in the med.
What age? It should be gone up to 36 like the Guards. Life experience is what you want in all these jobs. The yanks want dumb younglings because they are easier to brainwash but Irelands army are peacekeepers auld lads should get a chance.
Experience? Working as a tradesman for 20 years really got me the experience I needed to survive the Golan heights??.. They need to train officers young. There’s only one way to have experience for the army and that’s by being in it.
They need to reinstate the pay and allowances.
Salary is shocking. And people are foolish to think we don’t need the defence forces. Another underpaid thankless job!
Yea get treated like cr@p for years and get paid 270 euro for the pleasure.
Or sit on your hole, treat yourself like crop and get paid similar amount.
What we really need are a contingent of 1,000 of these lads on the streets on North inner city Dublin.
I doubt the locals will attack them the way they did the guards a few months back.
The Air Corp should be scrapped, & put the money into the Marine service.
We can’t expect the Biggles standard outfit in Baldonnel to add anything to overall security, whereas a navy kitted with helicopter capable vessels & personnel would be better equipped to deal with the fishing piracy, & drug shipments, as well as the humanitarian work here & abroad.
We already lease in air rescue capacity, so why do we also keep this make believe Air Force as well?
William, I concur. Genuine waste of money. Training pipeline for Aer Lingus and other airlines.
I would love to join the Irish Defence Forces but I’m gone too old now. Shame really
Any idea what the age limit is??
Important to keep the army bulked up in this age of international terrorism.
Poor wages and contacts leading to mass amount leaving
Never understood the attraction of the army. Get shipped off to some $hithole to try and stop two sides killing each other.
@brian o’loughlin. Didn’t realise they’d deployed to army to the north inner city.
Don’t panic captain Mannering
It is what it says on the tin, a life less ordinary. What’s more madness spending your life working a 9-5 at a job you don’t really love for an ok wage..
860.new personal seems a lot….A bit if a luxury seeing the housing and health crisis…Do we need such a large army and air force…
Jaysus… some people are never happy…
Must be expecting the country to rise in protest at the next budget.
Total waste of money, what the hell do the army recruits do everyday? Play army games in the Curragh. Money better spent recruiting Gardai,Nurses. Waste of tax payers money.
Yes Dusty. This might be your chance to leave the nest.
Hold on! I thought Enda was our Defence Minister? Has he relinquished his authority already?
To those who say the army is a waste of time I ask how can a nation be a nation with an unprotected boarder/shoreline? If we were serious about neutrality we would be spending multiples of our present defence budget annually like the Swedes.
Waste of tax payers money . Sandbags
No good for most of the unemployed. You’d have to do some actual work.
New Irish?
Not enough babies in the army
Ireland is determined to copy the mistakes that everyone else has already made:
“Germany plans security investigations of all military recruits from July 2017 after its military counter-espionage service (MAD) identified 20 Islamists in the country’s armed forces, German media group Funke reported on Saturday.
A spokesman for the agency confirmed the figure, adding that 60 additional potential cases were under investigation.
Draft legislation to be considered by the German parliament in the coming weeks would mandate investigations of all recruits to counter efforts by Islamic State to infiltrate the military and get weapons training, Funke Mediengruppe reported.”
A lot of negativity about the army here today that I can’t agree with. Young lads and ladies should I believe look on the army career as a means of not only serving our country but gaining extra skills and training. The guys I know esp retired ex army are super workers. Well organized and disciplined.
No need for the Army??? Do ye people not see whats going on or what?? Do ye think the world is becoming a safer place?? I done 26yrs and wudnt change it for the world, I learned respect, discipline, responsibility, friendship, I done my trips overseas , I seen things I never taut I wud and I mourned the lads who lost their lives so ordinary people cud lead ordinary lives ,how many of ye can claim that?, ask the locals in Tibnine and surrounding villages in south Lebanon what they think of the Army and ul get ur answer, yer all entitled to ur opinion but dont think ye know it all, the best experience u can get is experience and then u can have ur say secure in the knowledge that u know what ur on about otherwise ur opinion means nothing.
I hear they’re only paying ” jaw” wages!.
What’s that, jaw-droppingly low? I Googled it and only got the name of a greyhound.
@Fiona Fitzgerald; That’s an old Country saying for no pay, just meals. Yeah, jaw wages, it would be tough to chew as well.
Waste of.money. spend the money recruiting more guards instead
If we get into trouble all Enda has to call is the RAF?
Shortage of Guards and Nurses and we as a neutral country recruit nearly 1000 new people to the defence forces. Theres plenty of sick people and criminals in the real world without preparing for an impossible invasion by another country. Realistically if any country had the means to invade Ireland(that would mean Britain and its ally America standing down) our army wouldn’t be capable of saving us
@Michael Devlin: Just because you can’t see what the defence forces do, doesn’t mean they aren’t doing anything.
You may be right that the PDF would not stand up to a conventional invasion for very long (there are not enough of them), but then – as you yourself say a conventional invasion is unlikely – and not the Defence Forces primary concern in the modern world.
A short and non-comprehensive list of services the DF provide:
air ambulance
fisheries patrol
air and sea rescue
drug interdiction
bomb disposal
Intelligence (anti-terror, criminal, foreign)
armed escort (prisoners, industrial explosives, cash)
security for Portlaoise prison
manpower in the case of natural disaster/essential services disruption.
Not to mention peacekeeping.
The defence forces already struggle to cover these duties at their current manpower level.
And to head off the suggestion that the Gardai could take over these roles – the gardai cost more per person than the defence forces in salary alone, you would be decreasing the available funds for healthcare and education and justice if you disbanded the Defence forces.
No shortage of Nurses, theyre leaving as soon as theyre qualifed and theres plenty of guards theres judges who let the bad go to commit more crime
@Michael Devlin: I am not joking. As in the past this has happened and I was making a joke out of that.
dusty here’s a chance to take out your anger at society in a controlled and legal way. cheaper than anger management classes
And they can ……. as well lol.
Iceland don’t have army Ireland don’t need a army nobody will invade Ireland we just have a few fields and few factories a little stone off the Atlantic
And a base to attack the uk from.
have your say