The Taoiseach does not believe President Michael D Higgins went too far in comments he made around the Defence Forces.

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 has backed down from a standoff with public sector unions by agreeing to talks on “anomalies” in the Lansdowne Road Agreement.