Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I join in commending the Minister, which I do not do too often. I also commend the Cork students who were responsible for the inaugural missing persons day. That is a worthwhile development. I know two of the families that have been devastated by virtue of losing a loved member and I know how difficult the situation is for them.

The Supplementary Estimate serves to highlight for us the fact that the shortfall of €9.4 million can be found from within the overall Vote of the Defence Forces. It shows how effective the Defence Forces have been over the years in adapting to the changing climate that has prevailed. I frequently said to the Minister that the Defence Forces have learned how to be slim – lean, mean and effective – in how they did their business long before other elements of the public service ever began to think about the need to do it. We support the Supplementary Estimate as we want pensioners to be paid their due allowance.

We were told by the Minister that €880,000 in savings have been achieved in subheads A1, A3, A4, A5 and A6. The Minister said he intends to save approximately €9 million overall. Will he give a sense of where the savings will be achieved? If he could do that to our satisfaction I would have no difficulty with the proposal before us.

I further commend the Minister on his recruitment campaign. It is encouraging to see in excess of 300 young people joining the force. That is a good thing. We need to have ongoing recruitment. At the same time, PDFORRA has raised some concerns about people on the 21-year contracts who remain fit and able, who are in good health and who are well capable of continuing to give service. The Minister should think long and hard before forcing people out of the Defence Forces into an environment where their chance of future employment is slim.