Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 April 2016
206. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Minister for Defence the personnel strength of the Permanent Defence Forces when 1,450 new members are recruited following the recruitment campaign announced on 13 April 2016. [7663/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Government is committed to maintaining the stabilised strength of the Permanent Defence Force at 9,500 personnel, comprising of 7,520 Army, 886 Air Corps and 1,094 Naval Service as stated in the 2015 White Paper on Defence.
The manpower requirement of the Defence Forces is monitored on an ongoing basis in accordance with the operational requirements of each of the three services, the establishment of the Permanent Defence Forces and available resources. As there is significant turnover of personnel in the Permanent Defence Force targeted recruitment takes place so as to maintain personnel numbers at or near the agreed strength levels as set out above in accordance with available training capacity. This approach is underlined by the recently announced recruitment strategy which envisages an intake in 2016 of 600 general services recruits and a further 850 in 2017. This recruitment will be phased over the 2016 and 2017 period in a manner designed to restore the established strength and plans are being put in place to this end.
