Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 October 2022
101. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Defence if he will provide an update on current plans for the implementation of measures contained within the Commission on the Future of the Defence Forces report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49020/22]
View answer108. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Defence when he will bring forward an implementation plan for the recommendations of the Commission on the Defence Forces; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48890/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 101 and 108 together.
The Commission on the Defence Forces was established on foot of a commitment in the Programme for Government, and I, as Minister for Defence, welcomed the publication of the report of the Commission on 9th February last. The Commission has undertaken a significant body of work, encompassing wide-ranging terms of reference. It recommends significant changes for the Defence Forces and Defence provision in Ireland. It covers high level Defence Forces structures, defence capabilities, organisation, culture and human resources, the Reserve Defence Force and funding.
Given the significant recommendations contained in the Report, detailed consideration of these recommendations was undertaken over a period of 5 months by my Department and the Defence Forces. I returned to Government with a High Level Action Plan and a Memo for Government which were approved on July 12th of this year. As part of this, Government approved a move over a six-year period to a level of Defence Forces’ capability equivalent to ‘Level of Ambition 2’ (LOA2), as set out in the capability framework devised by the Commission, which will entail funding increases to reach a defence budget of c. €1.5 billion (at January 2022 prices) by 2028 through the annual Estimates process.
The High Level Action Plan set out proposed implementation and oversight structures, and the Implementation Oversight Group met for the first time on the 3rd of October. A civil/military Implementation Management Office (IMO) has been established to support the implementation of the overall transformation programme required to implement recommendations from the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. The initial focus of the IMO is the implementation of the 38 early actions to be completed within 6 months of the Government decision on July 12th as set out in the High Level Action Plan and this includes the development of an Implementation Plan. Reporting mechanisms have been established to facilitate regular progress reports on the early actions to the IMO and the civil/military Strategic Management Committee.
