Since 2009, an agreement has been in place to pay all post-1995 military officers on full PRSI who are forcibly retired on age grounds at age 58 a supplementary pension (as long as the pensioner is not, before age 65, in insurable employment).

Defence Forces officers’ representatives have disputed a claim by a Government minister that fewer people are leaving the service.

The Department of Defence is not adopting family-friendly policies and this is one of the reasons why so many officers have resigned in the past two years.