Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

The White Paper on Defence was published in February 2000. It provided for a strength of 10,500 for the Permanent Defence Force, PDF, comprised of 930 for the Air Corps, 1,144 for the Naval Service and 8,426 for the Army. At the time of publication the strength of the Permanent Defence Force stood at approximately 11,500. This was reduced to 10,500 by the end of 2001. The White Paper also provided that the Chief of Staff could maintain an additional 250 personnel in training at any one time. That provision was withdrawn in June 2003 as part of the Government decision on managing public service numbers. The strength of the Permanent Defence Force on 30 September 2006, the latest date for which detailed figures are available, as advised by the military authorities, was 10,383.

It is my intention to maintain the established Government policy of ongoing recruitment to the Defence Forces. Recruitment into the Permanent Defence Force will continue to maintain the strength at the level set out in the White Paper as required to meet military needs. The strength of the Defence Forces as at 31 December in the years 2003, 2004 and 2005, respectively, was 10,498, 10,551 and 10,446. There are no plans to review the established strength of 10,500 as set out in the White Paper.

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