Olivia Mitchell
Question:10 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Defence the projected savings which will accrue from the voluntary early retirement scheme; and the way in which this money will be used. [15130/97]
Other Questions. - Defence Forces Retirement Scheme.
It is estimated that commencing in 1999 there will be net savings of the order of £15 million a year arising from the reduction in the strength of the Permanent Defence Force. It has been agreed that from 1999 onwards 50 per cent of the pay savings will be made available to provide additional funding for equipment and infrastructural programmes for the Defence Forces.
Will the Minister give an assessment of the early retirement scheme over the past year? I understand engineers were targeted. Is it true that a few million pounds will be returned to the central Exchequer because the Army currently does not have sufficient numbers of engineers to do the necessary planning to make the various infrastructural and general changes. If that is true it is an indictment of the voluntary early retirement scheme.
The early retirement scheme was voluntary. Approximately 500 people availed of the scheme in 1996 and 735 this year. It is inevitable that schemes of this nature, while reducing the overall numbers, do not address all the problems because they have accumulated over a long time. This scheme is a somewhat crude though necessary way of reducing numbers. I would not be surprised if certain aspects of the scheme created problems although in the main it has worked successfully. In my approach to the next phase of the VER I will have to take account of any problems that arose in the previous phase to ensure that we have the right people available to do the right work at the right time. The Deputy is correct in saying there was a small refund to the Department of Finance in terms of capital moneys available. In any of the Departments in which I served I never gave back a farthing to the Department of Finance. I always made sure I had a sufficient number of plans in motion to use the funds available. It is a matter of regret to me that I inherited that particular problem. My Estimate for 1998, in terms of capital works, will be fully spent and I intend to put in place the preparatory work to ensure that will happen. I have no doubt that I have the resources to do that.
I welcome the expenditure on the upgrading of barracks, which is excellent, and great credit must be given to all concerned with that. Other areas require further investment and I hope the Minister's budget will reach out to those. Has the Minister decided to go ahead with the further development of the voluntary early retirement scheme, and does he intend to have consultations with the representative organisations as well as the military authorities in that regard? If it is to go ahead it will obviously have to be much more targeted than previously. Is that the Minister's intention?
That is broadly the intention. I am anxious to enhance the consultative process and be as engaging as I can in terms of determining the ultimate approach that will be made. It is fair to say that my anticipation at this stage is that the VER scheme for 1998 will contain a number of new elements. I do not like to use the word "focused" or "targeted" because we have to negotiate with the military authorities and the representative associations, but the end product will be one to which all of us would subscribe and will, in the main, attract people into voluntary retirement. My responsibilities are to ensure that the scheme operates effectively not only for those who retire but, more particularly, for the people who remain in the service. They obviously must be fully considered in that context.