Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. I thank the Minister and his team for coming in. On the future planning for retirees and contingency, the Minister specifically mentioned there was a net increase of 380 over the past three years since 2019, but he said it is projected 430 personnel will retire this year on a lump sum and a pension. In terms of future planning between the retirees, those who are scheduled to retire and a contingency for those who are unexpected or unplanned, what work has the Department carried out, either with military management or with the representative bodies, to ascertain if there is a way of better gauging those who might retire unexpectedly, who do not stay on in the Defence Forces when they reach the eligibility for a military pension?

Has the Minister the percentage who are not likely to receive their increases from the Building Momentum agreement before the end of 2022? Has it been broken down to that level of detail? When the Minister states "slip into early 2023", can we get a more definitive timeline on that?