Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 September 2013
207. Deputy Kevin Humphreys asked the Minister for Defence if his Department or the Defence Forces has privatised or outsourced any part or all of the selection process for potential recruits to the Defence Forces, including psychological or behavioural testing; the parts or processes and the companies or persons that have received contracts and the value of same; the reason for doing this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40212/13]
View answerThe day to day administration of recruitment to the Permanent Defence Force is the responsibility of the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces. The Military Authorities have advised that the administration for the last General Service Recruitment campaign, which was held in 2012, along with the 2012 Army and Naval Service Cadetship Competitions was carried out by Permanent Defence Force personnel with assistance provided by the Public Appointments Service (PAS) in the staging of the Psychometric Testing element of these competitions. No outside recruitment agency was utilised by the Defence Forces for any element of these competitions.
Online psychometric testing was introduced for the first time for the Army and Naval Service Cadetship Competitions in 2013. The services of Cut – E, a company that specialises in online psychometric testing, were used to conduct online psychometric testing as part of the selection process for Army and Naval Service Cadets. This facility is not available in the Defence Forces or PAS. The cost involved in availing of Cut – E services was €5,000 in 2013.
The services of CAE PARC Aviation, a specialist aviation recruitment company, were used to assist in the selection of Air Corps Cadets up to and including the 2012 competition. This company carried out specialist psychometric and psychomotor testing as the expertise in this particular area of testing is not available in the Defence Forces or in PAS. For the 2013 Air Corps Cadetship competition this function was undertaken by specialised aviation consultants, Health Psychology Ireland, following a tendering process. The cost involved in availing of PARC services in 2012 was €52,000. The cost for 2013 was €29,500.
