Seán Ó Fearghaíl
Question:303. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Defence the number of recruits the Defence Forces have taken on in 2015 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45820/15]
View answerThursday, 17 December 2015
Questions (303)
Written answers
The Government is committed to maintaining the establishment of at least 9,500 in the Permanent Defence Force, comprising of 7,520 Army, 886 Air Corps and 1,094 Naval Service as stated in the 2015 White Paper on Defence.
The manpower requirement of the Defence Forces is monitored on an ongoing basis in accordance with the operational requirements of each of the three services. As there is significant turnover of personnel in the Permanent Defence Force, targeted recruitment has been and is currently taking place so as to maintain the agreed strength levels.
To date in 2015, a total of 201 recruits have been inducted into the Army and 43 recruits into the Naval Service. Recruits were drawn from the panels formed from the General Service recruitment competition that was launched in March 2014, and the Naval Service campaign launched in March 2015. A General Service recruitment campaign was launched on 4 August 2015 and the selection process for this competition is progressing. It is planned that a further platoon of 40 Army recruits and a class of 40 Naval Service recruits will be inducted before the end of December 2015.
With the support of the Chief of Staff and within the resources available, it is intended to retain the capacity of the Defence Forces to operate effectively across all roles and to undertake the tasks laid down by Government both at home and overseas.