Vol. 470 No. 7
36 Mr. O'Malley asked the Minister for Defence the steps, if any, he will take to ensure that the flawed decision to reduce the strength of the Defence Forces will be put in abeyance in view of the current unsettled situation. [19910/96]
The review of the Defence Forces on which the current reorganisation is based pre-dated the ceasefire.
Furthermore I would like to emphasise that the reorganisation of the Defence Forces has as one of its main objectives an increase in the number of troops available for operational duties.
The implementation plan which the Government approved in February of this year was not the Price Waterhouse report which was extensively leaked in July of 1994, and gave rise to much unhelpful rumour and speculation, but rather a plan prepared by the Efficiency Audit Group which drew on the recommendations of the consultants. This plan has the support of the military authorities.
The overall objective of the implementation plan is to create a more efficient, well structured and better organised Defence Forces capable of fulfilling the roles which were redefined by the Government in 1993. In doing that we will tackle the issues identified in the course of the examination of the organisation such as the high age profile problem, inadequate collective training, excessive numbers in civilian-type jobs and the serious imbalance between pay and non-pay spending. When the revised organisation is in place we will have a three brigade structure of 11,500 all ranks which will be better trained and equipped to carry out its operational tasks.
I have discussed the reorganisation of the Defence Forces with the Select Committee on Legislation and Security in the course of the debate on the Defence Estimates. The representative bodies have made presentations to that committee on the subject of the reorganisation plans. It is my intention to return to the committee to discuss the reorganisation process further and also to address the issues and concerns raised by the representative associations in that forum.
