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Voluntary military service of officer of Reserve Defence Force
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4. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 86:
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“Voluntary military service of officer of Reserve Defence Force
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86A. (1) An officer of the Reserve Defence Force may notify his or her commanding officer in writing that the officer is available for deployment on supplemental military service, subject to the officer’s consent being given under subsection (7).
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(2) A notification under subsection (1) shall specify—
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(a) the nature of the supplemental military service to which the officer concerned may consent under subsection (7),
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(b) the duration and frequency of the periods of supplemental military service to which the officer concerned may consent under subsection (7), and
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(c) the dates from and to which the officer concerned may be available to be deployed on supplemental military service.
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(3) An officer of the Reserve Defence Force who has provided a notification under subsection (1) may notify his or her commanding officer in writing that the officer is no longer available for deployment on supplemental military service.
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(4) Where the Minister determines that—
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(a) there is a particular deficiency in skills or expertise in the Permanent Defence Force which would be addressed by the deployment of an officer of the Reserve Defence Force on supplemental military service, or
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(b) it is otherwise in the best interests of the Defence Forces to deploy an officer of the Reserve Defence Force on supplemental military service,
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the Minister may approve the deployment of an officer of the Reserve Defence Force on supplemental military service.
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(5) An approval under subsection (4) shall specify—
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(a) the purpose of the deployment concerned, and
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(b) the number of officers to be deployed as part of that deployment.
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(6) An approval under subsection (4) may specify matters other than those referred to in subsection (5), including, but not limited to—
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(a) the skills or qualifications that an officer is required to have for the purposes of the deployment concerned, and
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(b) the duration of that deployment.
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(7) Subject to subsection (10), where an officer of the Reserve Defence Force has provided a notification under subsection (1) and has not provided a notification under subsection (3), the prescribed military authority may request, and the officer may give, the officer’s consent to deployment on supplemental military service in respect of which an approval has been given under subsection (4).
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(8) A request of the prescribed military authority under subsection (7) shall—
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(a) be in writing, and
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(b) specify—
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(i) the nature,
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(ii) the duration,
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(iii) the start date, and
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(iv) the end date,
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of the supplemental military service concerned.
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(9) A consent of an officer of the Reserve Defence Force under subsection (7) shall be given in writing to the prescribed military authority.
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(10) The prescribed military authority shall not seek the consent of an officer of the Reserve Defence Force under subsection (7) where the total number of days of military service provided by the officer in a 12 month period would, if the officer were to be so deployed, exceed the number of days prescribed for the purpose of this subsection.
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(11) Subject to subsection (12), an officer of the Reserve Defence Force may withdraw a consent given under subsection (7).
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(12) An officer of the Reserve Defence Force deployed on supplemental military service may only withdraw his or her consent to that deployment with the consent of the prescribed military authority, which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld.
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(13) Where an officer of the Reserve Defence Force withdraws his or her consent to deployment on supplemental military service—
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(a) in a case in which the deployment has not commenced, the officer shall not be deployed on that service, and
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(b) in a case in which the deployment has commenced, the officer shall not be liable to continue that service.
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(14) An officer of the Reserve Defence Force shall be liable to render supplemental military service only where—
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(a) the Minister has given approval to deployment on that supplemental military service under subsection (4), and
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(b) the officer has given and not withdrawn his or her consent to deployment on that supplemental military service.
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(15) The Minister may prescribe a number of days for the purposes of subsection (10).
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(16) The Minister shall, when prescribing a number of days for the purposes of subsection (10), have regard to—
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(a) the voluntary nature of supplemental military service,
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(b) the duration of training which may be required before deployments on supplemental military service,
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(c) the operational requirements of the Defence Forces,
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(d) the employment and education commitments of officers of the Reserve Defence Force, and
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(e) the training requirements of officers of the Reserve Defence Force.
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(17) In this section, ‘supplemental military service’ means military service, either within or outside the State, which an officer of the Reserve Defence Force would not be liable to render under other provisions of the Defence Acts 1954 to 2015. ”.
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