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

There are no initiatives that would have been undertaken that are not being undertaken. One of the problems in calculating an accurate figure for pensions is that it has been very difficult to secure increases in the pension budget at all from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform because it holds a very tight rein and has needed to do so. We have to try to estimate how many will leave the Defence Forces each year. People can leave at a time of their choosing and it takes several months to replace them. If somebody leaves in January, it will be at least June before he or she is replaced. There are savings because if someone earning €40,000 or €50,000 leaves the Defence Forces, the replacement will probably earn significantly less, but there is a pension cost for the person who leaves. We could have one Vote to include pension and all other defence expenditure. I do not think, however, that that would be a good idea because we should try to have pensions as a separate line of expenditure in a separate Estimate. In most other Departments there would be a pay and pensions balance. We have a correction. Technically that is not happening because there is an Estimate, but the saving in one Vote can be used to cover slightly increased expenditure in another.

The management of staffing and numbers in the Defence Forces in the past few years has been quite difficult, particularly in the past 12 months where there were real opportunities for Defence Force personnel in the private sector and experts and specialists being headhunted. They leave because they can earn more in the private sector. We are reflecting on that issue to try to keep people who are valuable to the Defence Forces. We need them. The Deputy and others have raised some of these issues, but we had to calculate the likely Estimate figure. There was a realisation that it would always be tight on the pensions side and we are doing this year what we did last year. It is a similar sum of money, but in percentage terms, it is a relatively small adjustment.