asked the Minister for Defence the number of bounties paid to Army personnel in respect of recruits in each of the last five years; why an exhortation was issued a few months ago to Army personnel to use their good offices to encourage men to join the Army and thereby to earn bounties; and why the intake of recruits has been abandoned.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Army Recruitment Bounties.
83.
The following are the numbers of recruiting rewards paid to members of the permanent Defence Force in the years 1961 to 1965 inclusive:
|
1961 |
472 |
|
1962 |
405 |
|
1963 |
358 |
|
1964 |
443 |
|
1965 |
678 |
Following the award of increases in the pay of personnel of the permanent Defence Force in the first half of 1965, recruiting officers were asked to take steps for the encouragement of enlistments. However, the strength of the permanent Defence Force has in recent months been rather more than the average strength of 7,000 non-commissioned officers and privates contemplated in the Vote for Defence for the present financial year, and, accordingly, with a view to ensuring that the actual strength approximates to the figure contemplated in the Vote, it has been decided to restrict recruitment for the present except in the case of the Naval Service and the 1st (Irish-Speaking) Battalion.