Lisa Chambers
Question:222. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence his plans to address the severe staff shortages in the Air Corps and the lack of experienced personnel available. [14650/17]
View answerThursday, 23 March 2017
Questions (222)
Written answers
The Government is committed to maintaining the stabilised strength of the Permanent Defence Force at 9,500 personnel, 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 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.
Given the improvement in the domestic economy and demand for experienced pilots, the retention of experienced Pilot Officers in the Air Corps has been a significant challenge for the Defence Organisation in recent years, and there has been an outflow of experienced Air Corps Pilot Officers, both rotary and fixed wing. A Working Group comprised of Civil and Military personnel was established to look at ways of addressing the issue of how to retain sufficiently experienced Pilot Officers within the Air Corps. The Working Group’s report contained a number of recommendations ranging from increasing recruitment levels to examining the current terms and conditions of pilots. Work on the implementation of the Working Group’s recommendations is currently ongoing by both Civil and Military staff of the Defence Organisation. While there are a number of initiatives underway, realistically it will take time for a return to previous levels of capability in the Air Corps as pilots within the system progress to become aircraft commanders and newly qualified cadets become co-pilots.
There are currently three Cadet classes totalling 27 personnel at various stages of the Wings Course (this is reduced from the 28 previously reported, where one person has been unable to continue their pilot training) with 7 currently undergoing flight training, and four Apprentice Technician classes totalling 41 personnel in training with 5 due to qualify this summer.
The 2017 Cadetship competition was launched yesterday Wednesday 22 March with a planned intake of up to 12 Cadets in Quarter 3 of 2017. The Defence Forces also plan to launch an Air Corps Trainee Military Aircraft Technician competition in early Summer this year, from which it is planned to induct up to 25 Apprentice Technicians in Autumn 2017.
Question No. 223 answered with Question No. 219.