Mandatory retirement age for Reserve Defence Force staff to rise immediately

The mandatory retirement age for army personnel has increased to 60, with immediate effect from today, March 28, it has been announced. 

The Tánaiste and Minister for Defence, Micheál Martin TD, announced that the mandatory retirement and maximum recruitment ages for Reserve Defence Force (RDF) personnel are being brought in line with recently announced changes for Permanent Defence Force (PDF) personnel.

In the case of both the RDF and the PDF, the mandatory retirement age is being raised to 60. This applies to all ranks that previously had a mandatory retirement age below 60.  When legislated for, the further increase in the mandatory retirement age for all Permanent Defence Force ranks to 62 will also be applied to Reserve Defence Force personnel.

The maximum recruitment age for the RDF and the PDF is also being increased to 39.

These measures come into effect today.

Announcing the changes, the Tánaiste said: “I welcome the increases to the mandatory retirement and recruitment ages for Permanent Defence Forces and Reserve Defence Force, which come into effect today.

"The regeneration of the Reserve Defence Force is a key focus for this Government and these changes are an important step in that process.

 "It is essential that the Defence Forces recruit, retain, and develop for the future, skilled personnel and key specialists. A vital element of this will be the development of a Reserve Defence Force that can seamlessly train, operate and deploy on a voluntary basis, with the Permanent Defence Force, both here and overseas.”