Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We should be close to 9,500 by the time we get to the end of the year. That is our objective. In the middle of this process we are implementing a reorganisation programme. As there will be Dáil questions on that issue this afternoon, I will not go into it here. In the context of the Estimates process we are engaged with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Minister, Deputy Brendan Howlin, on the figures and where we stand in dealing with the financial envelope available to us for 2013. The reality of pension payments is part of the financial envelope. Pension payments are relatively predictable and fixed and this forms part of the discussions with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. In the current financial climate and with limited resources it is important to stay within our resources. In a sense, members of the Permanent Defence Force in 2012 whom we may have envisaged continuing in the force and for whom salary provision was made went into the pension stream and there was an interregnum in bringing people in. We were able to made provision for this within our resources. These issues are part of the Estimates discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.