TDs and senators will be warned today that the success of major drugs busts relies on a highly-skilled Defence Force.
The Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence will meet with RACO later, a week on from the largest cocaine seizure in Irish history.
The multi-agency operation off the Cork coast involved members of the Army Ranger Wing and the Air Corps.
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However, the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers claims the Defence Forces are under real pressure because of an "obsession" with recruitment over the retention of highly-skilled soldiers.
General Secretary, Lieutenant Colonel Conor King says the government must not take them for granted:
