Vol. 456 No. 6
182 Mr. Bell asked the Minister for Defence the plans, if any, he has to introduce an early retirement scheme for members of the Permanent Defence Forces; and if so, when he plans to issue the details of any such scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14392/95]
The Government has accepted the broad conclusions of the Efficiency Audit Group (EAG) arising from its review of the Defence Forces. As many of the reforms proposed by the EAG can only be attained over a long time-frame, the Government has asked me to bring forward, in the first instance, proposals which are attainable within the next three years.
An implementation group has been established to prepare a fully costed development plan aimed at producing an organisation with an overall target strength of 11,500 members, based on a three brigade structure. In that context the implementation group is addressing the formulation of a voluntary early retirement scheme which will be the subject of consultations with the defence forces representative associations. I intend putting my proposals on these issues to Government shortly.
