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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
National
John Kierans

167 Defence Forces members have gone AWOL so far this year, the highest in a decade

Defence Forces Leo Varadkar Simon Coveney Irish Defence Forces Police

A staggering 167 members of the Irish Defence Forces have gone AWOL - absent without leave - so far this year, the highest in a decade.

This is 61 cases more than last year and almost double the total for 2019 and 2020 respectively.

Former Defence Minister Simon Coveney revealed the figure, which is the highest recorded in the past 10 years, but gave no explanation as to why it is happening.

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