Pay and recruitment and the retention crisis is set to dominate the three day PDForra conference which gets underway today.
Just last month RedFM News highlighted how the Irish Naval Service revealed that it is competing directly with private business as they struggle to retain personnel.
PDForra has long been raising the difficulties facing naval personnel with the low level of wages a major stumbling block in attracting and retaining people.
The lack of specialised personnel and the retention crisis led to the entire naval fleet being tied up at Haulbowline last month as ships will not be sent to sea if they are not adequately crewed as it would be a health and safety risk.
At the end of 2015, the Defence Forces had 9,140 personnel and now has less than 7,600.
The Government has been warned for over a decade that poor pay and conditions would eventually lead to a huge depletion in Defence Forces numbers.
