The Defence Minister says a spending increase to be presented to cabinet today is the biggest change to the military 'in living memory.'
Simon Coveney will this morning recommend to Ministers one of the scenarios from the Commission on the Future of the Defence Forces.
That will boost Ireland's military spending by almost 50 percent, from 1.1 billion to 1.5 billion a year by 2028.
But Minister Coveney says it's not just about money.
"it's also about a very fundamental reform of the Defence Forces.
"It's about a change of culture, it's about getting an awful lot more women into the Defence Forces, it's about increasing the size of the Defence Forces very significantly.
"The recommendation is to add an additional 2,000 people to the permanent Defence Forces in terms of establishment, but because we're about 1,000 behind where we should be that effectively means adding an extra 3,000 people - that's about a 35% increase in the numbers."
