Defence Forces

Thursday, 7 March 2024

Questions (180)

Patrick Costello

Question:

180. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence for a breakdown, in tabular form, of the number of vacancies and, at what rank, there were in the Defence Forces Medical Corps annually over the past ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11345/24]

View answer

Written answers

Tánaiste and Minister for Defence

It has not been possible to provide the required information within the timeframe available. I shall provide the information to the Deputy once it becomes available

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51

I refer to the above-referenced Parliamentary Questions and my original replies stating that it was not possible to provide the required information within the timeframe available. I am now in a position to do so. While the military authorities advise that it has not been possible to retrieve the requested details for 2014 due to a systems issue, they have provided the following requested information:

Table 1: Medical Corps Personnel, By Rank 2015 – 2023

	PTE 3 Star	CPL	SGT	CQMS	CS	BQMS	SGT MAJ	LT	CAPT	COMDT	LT COL	COL	Total
2015	64	74	37	5	4	1	2	0	10	14	7	3	221
2016	70	75	36	5	4	1	2	0	7	16	8	2	226
2017	66	74	36	4	3	0	2	2	6	15	8	2	218
2018	71	65	35	5	5	1	1	4	4	16	6	2	215
2019	66	68	30	5	4	1	2	1	9	15	6	2	209
2020	68	63	35	4	4	1	2	2	7	13	6	2	207
2021	68	63	33	4	4	1	2	3	8	13	7	2	208
2022	73	51	24	5	4	1	2	0	11	12	6	2	191
2023	84	55	25	5	4	1	2	0	9	11	6	2	204

Table 2: Medical Corps – Under Establishment Strength (Vacancies) and Over Establishment Strength (*), By Rank 2015 – 2023

Rank	PTE 3 Star	CPL	SGT	CQMS	CS	BQMS	SGT MAJ	LT	CAPT	COMDT	LT COL	COL	Total
2015	6	2*	2	0	1	0	0	0	13	4*	2	1*	17
2016	0	3*	3	0	1	0	0	0	16	6*	1	0	12
2017	4	2*	3	1	2	1	0	2*	17	5*	1	0	20
2018	1*	7	4	0	0	0	1	4*	19	6*	3	0	23
2019	4	4	9	0	1	0	0	1*	14	5*	3	0	29
2020	2	9	4	1	1	0	0	2*	16	3*	3	0	31
2021	2	9	6	1	1	0	0	3*	15	3*	2	0	30
2022	3*	21	15	0	1	0	0	0	12	2*	3	0	47
2023	14*	17	14	0	1	0	0	0	14	1*	3	0	34

*strength is in excess of the agreed establishment strength

Vacancies, depending on the role, are filled by traditional recruitment and public service appointment panels, and also by promotions.