Eligibility

• Irish Citizens
• A Refugee under the Refugee Act 1996
• Nationals of EEA States, i.e. The European Economic Area consists of the member states of the European Union along with Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway
• A person given a subsidiary protection declaration under the International Protection Act 2015 is eligible to enlist.
• An applicant must be ordinarily resident in Ireland.

There are a number of situations that would make a person ineligible for enlistment in the Permanent and Reserve Defence Forces. Some examples of these are:

• A person discharged from the Defence Forces (Permanent or Reserve) or the Military, Naval Police or Air Service of any other country or state because of misconduct or as a result of being found medically unfit.
• A person not ordinarily resident in Ireland.
• A person convicted by a civil court of a serious offence.
• A person in receipt of a disability pension from any source.

Applicants for General Service Enlistment must be not less than 18 years of age and under 39 years of age on the date deemed as the closing date for applications.

Applicants for Air Corps Trainee Aircraft Technician must be not less than 18 years of age and under 29 years of age on the date deemed as the closing date for applications. 

Applicants for Cadetship must be not less than 18 years of age and under 39 years of age on the date deemed by the terms and conditions.

Please check the Terms and Conditions for Direct Entry competitions as it may differ for these competitions.

As a critical component of the measures taken to ensure the security of Óglaigh na hÉireann, security vetting is conducted to ensure the suitability of candidates to occupy the role for which they have applied. The security clearance process involves several steps which take place either electronically or during an in-person part of the induction process (e.g. fitness test or interview) and this forms one part of their application to join the Defence Forces. Each application to join the Defence Forces is considered on a case-by-case basis.