THE Defence Forces have been blasted for paying dancers €10,000 to make TikTok videos as part of a bizarre recruitment drive.
Irish duo The Gardiner Brothers performed jigs in front of armoured vehicles and dozens of marching Irish soldiers.
The videos were shared on the Irish Defence Forces TikTok pageCredit: Social media - https://www.tiktok.com/@irishdefenceforces/video/7151423527898352902
TD Gary Gannon criticised the videos and called for the forces to pay 'appropriately' to attract new recruitsCredit: Garrett White - The Sun
In one clip, they dress as Tom Cruise’s Top Gun character to dance in front of an Irish Air Corp helicopter as it lands behind them.
In another, the pair caper on an Irish Navy ship at sea, while in a third they make their moves in a forest as an armed, camouflaged soldier walks behind them.
Figures released to Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy show the Army, Navy and Air Corp each paid €3,333 for a video of the boys.
However, only two are currently available to view on the Defence Forces official social media pages.
A note from the Defence Forces in response to parliamentary questions says that the brothers were hired to help increase recruitment.
It says the videos have had 100,000 views across Instagram and TikTok and brought in 5,000 new followers.
A Defence Forces spokeswoman said: “The Irish Defence Forces currently have 62,000 followers on TikTok and our most popular video to date has received 14.2million views.
“Forty per cent of TikTok users in Ireland are in the 18-24-year-old age bracket, which is the Defence Forces recruitment demographic.
“The Gardiner Brothers have 2.6million followers on TikTok, and this collaboration helped us to target a new audience with little or no previous connection to the Defence Forces from a huge proportion of our recruitment demographic.
“The video went viral and featured positively on several media outlets, such as Today FM and other social media pages such as LadBible, which has a huge following of its own.”
Social Democrats spokesperson on defence Gary Gannon said: “I think the big thing that the Defence Forces can do to recruit new people in is to improve pay and conditions.
“Having TikTok influencers paid €10,000 for doing three videos is a bit insulting to the young women and men of the Defence Forces using food banks as their wages don’t cover the cost of living.
CALL FOR BETTER PAY
“I think the Defence Forces when it’s paid appropriately, when a person has access to housing and medical entitlements — it sells itself.”
The Irish Defence Forces have been battling a recruitment and retention crisis for years, with the current strength just 7,959 — more than 1,500 below the required.
The Government is targeting 11,500 by 2028 following recommendations from the Commission on the Future of the Defence Forces.
The videos were made in an attempt to increase recruitmentsCredit: Social media - https://www.tiktok.com/@irishdefenceforces/video/7151423527898352902
Irish duo The Gardiner Brothers performed jigsCredit: Social media - https://www.tiktok.com/@irishdefenceforces/video/7151423527898352902