Professor Brian MacCraith:

I thank the Deputy for his positive comments. I am glad he mentioned the vaccination programme because, as part of our visit to Cork, I said that, in my experience, the role of the Defence Forces in the success of the vaccination programme in so many areas - not just vaccination, which the Deputy was involved in, but also logistics, transport and so on - was huge and the citizens of Ireland greatly appreciated that. There are many other positive stories, some of which I will talk about in a moment. We took away many messages from our visit to Cork. We were moved by some of the more traumatic stories from individuals, but we were also impressed with the enthusiasm, particularly of young recruits, and the commitment to the vision of the Defence Forces. In some cases, there was frustration about getting overseas and getting onto ships and so on, but it was positive. As often happens in these matters, when you hear some traumatic stories, they tend to take over your memory, but all members of the body took away some very positive messages.

We sat down randomly over lunch in the mess in both locations and talked to people. There was no prepared engagement here and we heard those positive stories, particularly of young people. Then I know one well-known Cork footballer who is an officer, and he would have talked about the positives. It is very important with regard to the recruitment process. We are very taken with the fact that the establishment numbers and the actual numbers are very far apart. We think that those positive stories coming out of the Defence Forces can be part of attracting people in, and I am very impressed with some of the recent TV adverts, as will the transformation of the culture. This will be all part of attracting people in. That is the common focus and vision we all share in this regard.