PAC to examine accounts for Defence & Army Pensions and disposal of Government jet

Committee Chairman Seán Fleming said: “Tomorrow we will discuss the 2015 Appropriation Accounts for the Defence and Army Pensions votes. Gross expenditure was some €671 million in 2015, comprising €459 million in pay, €123 million in non-pay current expenditure and €89 million in capital expenditure.  Defence expenditure is largely devoted to developing, maintaining and deploying military capabilities and over 68% of gross expenditure provided for the pay and allowances of Permanent Defence Force personnel, civilian employees and civil servants at year-end

“Among the issues on interest are: receipts from banks and other organisations in relation to cash in transit escorts provided by the Defence Forces; why were there no receipts from the EU in respect of fishery protection costs in 2015; payments from the United Nations in respect of peacekeeping missions: the level of Border Duty Allowances being paid; as well as the level of personal Injuries and employment case claims.

“In the context of Defence Forces pension schemes generally, we would be interested in how the arrangements in Ireland compare with the norms in other European defence forces.

“We will also examine Chapter 8 of Volume 2 of the C&AG’s report which deals with the disposal of the Government jet. We will be keen to discuss the options that were considered in relation to the jet and if the most cost-effective approach was taken.”

This meeting will take place in Committee room 3 at 9am on Thursday, 26 January 2017. Committee proceedings can be viewed live here.

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the move, through the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.