Aengus Ó Snodaigh
Ceist:47. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the number of Defence Forces personnel who have left the three branches since 2013, in tabular form. [15273/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 29 March 2017
Ceisteanna (47)
Freagraí scríofa
The 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 personnel as stated in the 2015 White Paper on Defence. The manpower requirement is monitored on an ongoing basis in accordance with operational requirements of each of the three services. As there is significant turnover of personnel in the Permanent Defence Force, targeted recruitment has been and is currently taking place so as to maintain the agreed strength levels.
More immediately, in terms of recruitment, the Defence Forces continue to recruit at cadet, specialist and general service for the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service. Both the General Service and Cadet competitions are currently open and competitions for direct entry watch keepers in the Naval Service will result in inductions shortly. An Air Corps Apprentice Class has also been inducted in March 2017.
Many individuals who exit the Defence Forces do so voluntarily to take up employment opportunities that are becoming increasingly available in the private and public sectors. The extensive training that Defence Forces personnel receive makes them very attractive within the private sector. Applications for voluntary discharge can be made for a variety of reasons such as ‘on pension after 21 years’, ‘at own request’, ‘on termination of engagement’, and ‘discharge by purchase of a recruit’.
The following table shows the number of personnel (Officers and ‘other ranks’) that have left the Defence Forces since January 2013 across all three services.
|
- |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 * |
TOTAL |
|
ARMY |
||||||
|
Officers |
41 |
55 |
57 |
62 |
8 |
223 |
|
Other Ranks |
308 |
316 |
375 |
451 |
69 |
1519 |
|
1742 |
||||||
|
AIR CORPS |
||||||
|
Officers |
10 |
13 |
9 |
13 |
0 |
45 |
|
Other Ranks |
21 |
30 |
48 |
36 |
8 |
143 |
|
188 |
||||||
|
NAVAL SERVICE |
||||||
|
Officers |
8 |
14 |
9 |
5 |
0 |
36 |
|
Other Ranks |
57 |
41 |
58 |
88 |
15 |
259 |
|
295 |
||||||
|
445 |
469 |
556 |
655 |
100 |
2225 |
Note : 2017 refers up to 28 February 2017, the latest date for which figures are available.