Significant percentage of Defence Forces applicants don't follow through on application

Defence Minister Simon Coveney, accompanied by the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, Lieutenant General Seán Clancy, reviewing the 119th Infantry Battalion, Unifil, at Sarsfield Barracks, Limerick, last month

A large percentage of people who apply to join the Defence Forces never follow through on their initial application, new figures show.

By the time it comes to actually recruiting those suitable, the numbers who do join up are so small the Defence Forces “can never expect to reach its basic minimum strength of 9,500,” especially as it is 1,000-plus short of that mark.