Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 October 2022
97. Deputy Cathal Berry asked the Minister for Defence when a mechanism will be agreed with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to create the additional military appointments necessary to implement the High-Level Action Plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49051/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn July Government approval was given for a move to ‘Level of Ambition 2’ (LOA2), as set out in the capability framework devised by the Commission on the Defence Forces. This will result in the Defence budget rising from €1.1 billion to €1.5 billion, in 2022 prices, by 2028, the largest increase in Defence funding in the history of the State. This will allow for the required substantial transformation and investment in recruitment and equipment that were identified by the Commission. The recent Budget for 2023 included an increase of €67m over the 2022 budget for Defence. This includes an almost 25% increase in Capital funding and demonstrates the Government’s strong commitment to support the transformation of the Defence Forces into a modern, agile military force, capable of responding to increasingly complex security threats.
The move to LOA2 will require an additional 2,000 personnel (civil and military) over and above the current establishment of 9,500. Work has already commenced on this with the recently announced recruitment campaign, ‘BE MORE’.
The establishment of an Office of Reserve Affairs with the priority objective of developing a regeneration plan for the Reserve Defence Force is included in the High Level Action Plan (HLAP) which was also approved by Government.
As a first step, in order to provide momentum and credibility to the HR and cultural change process, my officials and military management are progressing, as a matter of priority, an open recruitment process to fill a number of new positions including two civilian posts of Head of Transformation and Head of Strategic HR to drive the transformation and cultural change that is urgently required within the Defence Forces. Work on this is currently underway and sanction for these two posts has recently been received from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. This will be followed by further engagement on the actions outlined in the HLAP.
