Naval Service personnel visit schools and shopping centres on recruitment drive

Petty Officer Kara Foley and LS Dylan Cullinane chatting with Sean and Aoife McGuckin, Glanmire, at the Irish Naval Service recruitment stand at the Marina Market in Cork. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Naval service volunteers are visiting schools, shopping centres, and markets in an effort to recruit more people into the force amid a staffing crisis.

The initiative has been sparked by the fact that the naval service is short around 200 of the 1,094 minimum personnel it requires. This has seen two ships mothballed, while others have been forced to postpone patrols due to a lack of specialist crew members.