Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In response to Deputy Ó Snodaigh's question on deployment overseas, in 2017, we had 376 members of the Defence Forces and in 2018 we topped that up by a further 106, which brought it to over 400. It is not that there was a drop from 376 to 106. It was a joint Irish-Finnish mission and the Finns gave us five or six months' notice that they were withdrawing. At the time, I spoke to my Department, the Chief of Staff and the Deputy Chief of Staff Operations as to what were our options. We decided we would increase our personnel by a further 106 for one year only, from November 2018 to November 2019, a timeframe which gave us an opportunity to seek a partner. The officials in my Department spoke to a number of countries, including the Czech Republic. We had a long conversation with them and thought we would have had them over the line but, unfortunately, it did not happen. We then spoke to Poland's armed forces and its department of defence. I spoke to the Polish minister on two occasions and my officials met Polish officials, and the Poles are joining the Irish personnel in November of this year. A number of Maltese officers who trained in the cadet school at the Curragh training camp are also part of the Irish personnel. Therefore, we will reduce our numbers by a little over 100 in November of this year.

The Deputy asked how many personnel were on the ships and the answer is approximately 50, although it could be two or three more or less.