Defence Forces cannot afford to lose experienced officers to early retirement, Martin told

The Minister for Defence speaking to delegates at the PDFORRA conference in Trim, Co. Meath, where he was asked to intervene in the contracts issue. Photo: Moya Nolan

Plans to train thousands of new Defence Forces recruits could be seriously hindered because a cohort of highly experienced sergeants and petty officers face being forced to retire early due to contracts introduced in 1994.

Those contracts mean that such ranks have to retire at 50. But they are the people needed to train new personnel as part of the government’s commitment to bring military strength up to 11,500.