The Minister for Defence, Mr Michael Smith, today launched the biggest media advertising and promotional campaign ever to be conducted by the Irish Defence Forces.
The €2.5 million promotion, which has a tagline of ‘A life less ordinary’, will comprise television, cinema, radio and print ads.
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Mr Michael Smith and Lieut General Colm Mangan at today's launch
Photo: Pádraig Collins |
The first shot in the campaign will be fired tonight when an ad with a theme of ‘ordinary people doing extraordinary things’ makes it TV debut on RTÉ at 6.15.
The Defence Forces hope to recruit up to 800 general enlistment young people this year, as well as 200 with special skills in areas such as cadetships, medical, marine and general engineering, technicians, instrumentalists and ordnance.
Speaking about the task of recruiting personnel in a still vibrant economy, Mr Smith said "We face into a very competitive market... We see this as a great challenge".
Mr Smith said that a private will earn €400 a week after six months training. "It is a very rewarding, challenging type of career," he said.
On the effectiveness of the new advertising campaign, Mr Smith said that it is "something that will help us get the recruits we need".
The Defence Forces Chief of Staff, Lieut General Colm Mangan, also spoke at the launch. He thanked Minister Smith for introducing and implementing the policy of continuous recruitment. "Even with this we have been finding it hard in the competitive world of the Celtic Tiger economy to reach our targets," he said.
"But we don’t just want to fill our numbers, we want to staff the Defence Forces with the highest calibre young men and women. It is for this reason that we are embarking on this major campaign..." he said.
Talking about the kind of people they hoped to recruit, Mr Mangan said "We are becoming more and more a high tech Defence Force and we need young, well educated and motivated men and women. We need the brightest and the best.
"We are looking for young general service soldiers who may want a short career in the Defence Forces, while at the same time we want well educated and motivated people who will want to go through the ranks to the highest appointments through regular commissioning of enlisted personnel," he said.
As for the question as to why someone would join the army, Mr Mangan said that everything they do is based on being a team. "We offer excellent training with the chance to acquire new skills, adventure overseas and the good comradeship that comes with the team approach.
"All that combined with good pay, improving conditions, new skills and the chance to make a difference, makes for a very attractive package for young men and women in Ireland today," he said.
