Vol. 524 No. 5
160 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Defence if he will give the target figure for recruitment to the Defence Forces for 2000; the actual number of personnel recruited to date and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22976/00]
The White Paper on Defence provides for a Defence Forces total of 10,500 personnel. The current strength 10,749. However, in keeping with the policy of continuous recruitment the target figure for recruitment this year is 750. Since 1 January 2000 to date, 485 recruits have been enlisted. An advertising campaign for further recruitment was recently relaunched and it is anticipated that the target figure of 750 recruits will be reached. I intend to continue the process of continuous recruitment for the future.
