Ministers will discuss a pay and allowances deal for the Defence Forces at Cabinet today.

The minister for defence and his officials are being asked why they did not check — while visiting the UN General Assembly last week — that the exit paperwork for 130 Irish troops currently stranded in the Middle East was properly completed.

Moving to year-round recruitment won’t solve the ever-decreasing numbers in the Defence Forces and it’s being claimed it’s akin to “rearranging the deckchairs on a still sinking Titanic.”

Ken Foxe’s report that the State is insisting that the Government of Ireland logo be used in promotional material for Óglaigh na hÉireann is very worrying ‘Army told to include State logo on promo material’ (Irish Examiner, November 1).

Irish soldiers could be deployed in war-torn Syria before the end of the year, even though the country has become the centre of a new Cold War-era battle between Russia, the US, Britain, France, and their proxy allies.

The naval service is facing a personnel crisis, having failed to secure sufficient numbers for its latest recruitment class.

Fears have been expressed that the Defence Forces will find it difficult to recruit enough personnel to keep pace with early retirements as the number of people applying to join up dropped by nearly half between the last two recruitment campaigns.

The Government is under increasing pressure to set up a commission of investigation into alleged health and safety management failures at Casement Aerodrome.

Some members of the Defence Forces rely on social welfare payments to support their family, as their pay is “so low”.

A number of whistleblowers allege that a health and safety failure on the part of the Air Corps has caused their chronic illnesses. Joe Leogue looks at their case and how, just as with Garda Maurice McCabe, ‘coincidence after coincidence after coincidence’ has emerged to undermine their position

An Bord Pleanála shortages ‘not to blame for Indaver ruling delay’

A serving Air Corps whistleblower is facing dismissal from the Defence Forces next month, due to an “industrial dispute”.

Sean O’Riordan examines a UL report which highlights the high numbers leaving the Defence Forces

Cork County Council is demanding that An Bord Pleanála immediately release further information supplied to it by Indaver so objectors will have time to properly analyse it.

The organisation that represents the vast bulk of Defence Forces personnel is “preparing to go to war” in the new round of pay talks, writes Sean O'Riordan and Stephen Rogers.

The organisation that represents the vast bulk of Defence Forces personnel is “preparing to go to war” in the new round of pay talks. It wants treatment comparable to the Garda representative associations, which have clawed back pay and allowances.

The Government says it has no plans to establish a review to determine if the chronic illnesses suffered by former Air Corps staff were as a result of exposure to chemicals while working at Casement Aerodrome.

While the Naval Service may have stolen the limelight for its migrant rescue operations, it was one of the busiest years on record for the rest of the Defence Forces, both at home and abroad.

Your letters, your views.

Young members of the Defence Forces are disillusioned and leaving the Army, Naval Service, and Air Corps in droves because they cannot afford to live on their wages.

Eight members of the Defence Forces have been dismissed after testing positive for taking illegal drugs in 2015.

The planned deployment of around 140 crack troops on a major EU exercise has been called off as the Government failed to sign a special agreement to indemnify soldiers on duty abroad.

Crack Irish troops using drones and other hi-tech equipment have been put through their paces this week as part of a major EU-organised exercise in the north Cork/south Limerick area.

That old phrase ‘go fly a kite’ could take on an entirely new meaning when it comes to future energy efficiency.

Irish Naval personnel who have rescued over 3,400 migrants in the Mediterranean are not getting proper pay allowances.

Naval Service flagship LÉ Eithne has saved more migrants’ lives after picking up the occupants of a small fibreglass boat who had run out of food, water and fuel five days into an attempted crossing of the Mediterranean Sea.

An Air Corps officer has launched several High Court challenges aimed at preventing his court martial from going ahead.

Members of the Defence Forces who were due to lose their jobs as part of a plan to lower the military’s age profile have won a reprieve.

Eighty-five members of the Irish Defence Forces have tested positive for illegal drugs since compulsory random checks were introduced in 2003.

Sonny O’Neill, the man believed to have killed Michael Collins at Béal na Bláth, described being there when applying for a military pension 13 years later — but said nothing about the gunfight or firing the fatal shot.

The Defence Forces are on a mission to recruit more women with a number of new child-friendly initiatives and visits to schools and colleges aiming to sell a career in the military.

A soldier tragically fell to his death from a bathroom window at McKee Barracks after returning from a night out, an inquest heard.

The army has unveiled its first €1m computerised firing range which will make a camp in Co Cork one of its finest and busiest training centres.

Footage of the first full unit of the Irish Defence Forces to serve overseas more than 50 years ago has emerged online.

Five men are being questioned after a suspected dissident republican bomb plot was foiled near the border.

Some army officers with young children may be forced to seek Family Income Supplement because they can’t afford to travel to new postings due to the disbanding of a brigade.

Schoolchildren yesterday heard of their island home’s “unusual history” during a local commemoration of the 75th anniversary handover of a former British-built fort to Ireland.

Navy ships are in danger of “grinding to a halt” because there are less than half the number of engine room technicians required to keep them going, an organisation which represents Defences Forces’ personnel claims.

A flame taken from the eternal one on US president John F Kennedy’s grave has arrived in Ireland as part of events to mark 50 years since his visit.

The stress for soldiers in trying to expose the truth about how three of their colleagues died has finally been acknowledged by the army.