About 100 commissioned officers in the Defence Forces are to receive an additional payment for providing specialist instruction under a new scheme to be introduced by the Government.
Minister for Defence Simon Harris is expected to announce the new professional instructor allowance on Monday.
The initiative is expected to cost about €600,000 per year and the Government believes it will assist in encouraging personnel to remain in the Defence Forces.
Over recent years the Defence Forces have experienced significant recruitment and retention problems with the numbers leaving the military exceeding those being taken on.
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The new instructors’ allowance for nearly 100 officer specialists was approved by the Cabinet just after Easter and will be rolled out in the coming weeks.
Mr Harris will maintain that keeping skilled specialists in the Defence Forces is key to ensuring the security of the State and its citizens.
He will also state that there is an urgent and immediate requirement to advance the professionalisation of the instructor cohort in the Defence Forces.
He will argue that the introduction of the new professional instructor payment for instructors at officer rank furthers this agenda.
The instructors must possess advanced education, specialist expertise and substantial experience.
A new professional instructors’ programme in the Defence Forces is in the final stages of design.
Mr Harris is expected to say on Monday that the new initiative represents “an important incentivising measure, which will complement various other measures that have been employed in recent years to tackle the critical matter of recruitment and retention for the Defence Forces.
“The positive measures taken to date have proven to be productive in the context of the number of expressions of interest received to join the Defence Forces.
“There is a heavy reliance on the expertise and experience of instructors to deliver high-quality training programmes as a key driver to transform culture and modernise the Defence Forces to ensure that the State has a professional Defence Forces capable of undertaking roles required by Government.”
The Minister told the Dáil recently that there have been some positive trends in relation to recruitment and retention in the Defence Forces.
He said that there were 708 inductions in 2024, the highest since 2017 while the number of discharges stood at 674. He said this was 81 fewer than the previous year and the lowest number in four years.
“This represents a significant improvement and is suggestive of a plateauing of the downward trend in numbers. The Defence Forces have further advised that they are targeting at least 800 inductions in 2025”, the Minister told the Dáil.
The Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (Raco) welcomed the announcement, saying it was “a crucial retention and recruitment initiative that recognises and rewards the professionalism, qualifications and commitment of our Commissioned Officer members to the delivery of induction and career development training”.
Raco said it had called for such a measure for over a decade.
