Reserve Defence Forces
| Reserve Defence Forces | |
|---|---|
| Irish: Na hÓglaigh Cúltaca | |
 |
|
| Founded | 1 October 2005 |
| Service branches |
Army Reserve Naval Service Reserve
|
| Website | http://www.military.ie/en/reserve/ |
| Manpower | |
| Active personnel | 2,323 (Nov 2015) |
The Reserve Defence Forces (RDF) (Irish: Na hÓglaigh Cúltaca) are the reserve components of the Defence Forces of Ireland. The RDF is organised into the First Line Reserve (FLR) and a Second Line Reserve. The First Line Reserve comprises former members of the Permanent Defence Force and the Second Line Reserve comprises the Army Reserve (AR) and Naval Service Reserve (NSR).
The RDF was established on 1 October 2005 and replaced the Second Line Reserve, previously named An Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil (FCÁ) in the case of the AR, and An Slua Muirí in the case of the NSR. The RDF has undergone a reorganisation in tandem with the Permanent Defence Force as part of the "Single Force" concept.
In 1997 a steering group was convened by the Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces to conduct a special study on the restructuring of the Reserve Defence Forces. The report was completed in May 1999. The Reserve Defence Forces was established on 1 October 2005 in line with the recommendations of this report, and as part of a wider restructure of the Defence Forces from 2000 onwards.
An RDF Training Authority was established in the Defence Forces Training Centre (DFTC) which co-ordinates and conducts reserve training.
The Minister for Defence accepted the recommendations of a "Value for Money (VFM) Review of the Reserve Defence Force", published on 20 November 2012.
The Steering Committee recommended an Army Reserve and Naval Service Reserve based on a total strength ceiling of 4,069 personnel, (3,869 personnel Army Reserve and 200 personnel Naval Service Reserve), subject to existing organisational structures being revised.
In order to provide sufficient paid training days to sustain this strength, the Steering Committee recommended the withdrawal of gratuities from members of the Reserve and a re-allocation of the budgetary provision for gratuities of €0.9 million to provide sufficient paid training days for members of the Reserve.
The key points are;
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Wikipedia