Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Effectively, we have stayed within the overall financial envelope. In simple terms, we are moving a portion of money designated as salaries into pensions. That is facilitated as a consequence of the larger than expected number of retirements at the end of February and the obvious hiatus created thereafter. They retired and then became entitled to their pensions as opposed to Army salaries and, effectively, we determined what recruitment was required and how it should be distributed between the Army, the Air Corps and the Naval Service. For example, it is not a question of simply recruiting ordinary personnel but of identifying who should be recruited by way of cadets. The work that was done after February allowed us to advertise in June. We knew exactly where we were heading and could start bringing people into the Defence Forces in September after the preliminary work was done. That created an envelope of money that had not been spent on salaries. It was utilised for pensions and it meant that we stayed firmly within budget, which was important. Obviously, how we deal with funding for 2013 is dependent on the outcome of the Estimates and the conversation we are having with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.