The Irish Examiner writes, the number of recruits paying to get out of the Defence Forces before their training has even finished confirms claims the retention crisis can't be overcome by major recruitment drives alone.

Figures obtained by Jack Chambers, Fianna Fáil spokesman for Defence, show that 861 personnel paid to get out of the army, naval service and air corps from 2016 to 2018. Of those, 400 were recruits in training.

In total, all those getting their discharge papers over the three-year period had to pay the Department of Defence a combined €356,813.07 to leave.

Last year 113 recruits purchased their discharges out of a total of 611 recruited across the three branches of the Defence Forces.

A further 177 seasoned soldiers, sailors and aircrew opted to get out as well. The 290 in total who chose this path had to pay the Department of Defence €143,782.60 to quit.

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