Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 October 2011
9 Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Defence the current strength of the Reserve Defence Force; his plans for the strength of the RDF over the next year; the status of the value for money review of the Reserve Defence Force; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31334/11]
View answerI am advised by the military authorities that the strength of the Reserve Defence Force, RDF, as at 30 September 2011, was: First Line Reserve, 287; Army Reserve, 5,138; and Naval Service Reserve, 224.
The number of personnel that can be recruited to the Army Reserve and Naval Service Reserve is dependent on the funding available for paid training. The 2011 budget provided for approximately 30,000 paid training man days. These man days provide for annual paid training for existing members of the reserve, for targeted developmental training, such as career courses and skills courses, and for certain training for new recruits.
The level of recruitment to the Army Reserve and Naval Service Reserve must be balanced to ensure that appropriate training and development opportunities for all members of the reserve are maintained. The 2011 provision allowed for the training of approximately 200 recruits only. The number of available man days in the coming year will be dependent on budget 2012 which has not yet been determined. Accordingly, there have been no decisions regarding recruitment in 2012.
A value for money review of the Reserve Defence Force commenced in February 2010. Significant progress has been made and work is ongoing. Other priorities such as the comprehensive review of expenditure have drawn on the team undertaking the value for money review of the RDF. This has resulted in the need to extend the time required to complete the review.
Finalisation and recommendations arising from the value for money review will also have to take account of the outcome of the comprehensive review of expenditure.
I thank the Minister for his reply. The numbers in the RDF seem to be falling consistently. Are other issues at play other than budgetary issues? For instance, are there challenges or management issues within the RDF? Will the report be just a value for money report or will it consider operational issues and the future role of the RDF? Will the report examine issues other than money?
The reasons for the fall in the numbers are twofold. One reason is the limited amount of funding available from the December 2010 budget which applied to the Estimates for 2011. Funding was made available for no more than 200 recruits. Work is ongoing on the total numbers in the RDF and also the number of those actively in the reserve. There was always a significant difference between the two. The value for money review is just that; the Defence Green Paper may well address the issue of the future use of the RDF, what changes might be made to the overall benefit of the community and to the reserve itself. However, before we progress through that issue, some very serious decisions must be made during the month of November as we face into the December 2011 budget. I cannot anticipate those decisions. The man days provided for the reserve for training purposes for 2011 were substantially less than were provided for 2010 in the December 2009 budget. This is an issue.
The position of the reserve is somewhat on hold pending the completion of the two reviews being undertaken and the final difficult budgetary decisions that must be made.
