Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Allow me to answer that because the Deputy has raised some fair questions. First, like many others paid by the State, the pay levels within the Defence Forces are subject to pay agreements that are in place. Consequently, I cannot simply decide that the Defence Forces will be paid more overnight without a negotiation to do that with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The savings primarily have been made here because even though the full complement of 9,500 members serving in the Permanent Defence Force will be in place at the end of the year, this has not been the case throughout the full year. Even though people usually leave the Defence Forces when they so choose or sometimes because a contract is up, recruitment campaigns happen in bursts, whereby large numbers come in at any given time. Most of that recruitment has taken place in the second half of the year and some savings have been made on pay because the Permanent Defence Force has been below the ceiling figure, before returning to that figure by the end of the year.

This has allowed the Department to make savings of €25 million in a year when it was planned to spend €422 million, which is approximately 5%. This is where the vast majority of the savings have been made and the Department then has put that money back in to the Defence Forces directly by taking the opportunity to buy a new naval vessel. Consequently, it is not as though the Defence Forces have lost the value of these savings as they are being maintained. However, my Department has sought and has found savings in this area because it obviously is a major expenditure element and comprises €422 million of the overall net Vote of €640 million. Savings have been made under this subhead largely because of the timing of the recruitment to get numbers back up to the complement of 9,500 members. This has allowed the creation of some savings, which then have been transferred into expenditure on essential equipment. In essence, this is what has happened. I could talk at greater length about these recruitment campaigns and about those who are being recruited, which in itself is a positive story. Throughout the year, however, the number of personnel has been less than 9,500 and therefore, some savings have been made on foot of that. It may not be possible to make the same level of savings next year but that is what happened this year.