Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I am satisfied the Army is at sufficient strength as outlined in the White Paper to satisfy all our overseas commitments. However, Ireland has a standing commitment to deploy up to 10% of its standing Army overseas at any one time, being a total of approximately 850 troops. The current number is 808 which must be as near to the maximum as we have ever reached since we entered into that commitment. Nevertheless, the largest contingent abroad consists of 325 troops in Liberia and most of those troops will be returning home later this year. Our commitment in Lebanon runs to about 165 or 166 troops and is until next July or August at which point the Government will review the position and those troops may well be coming home. The situation in Kosovo is that following the general election and a recent meeting of the GAERC, of the European Union Defence Ministers, it is envisaged that downsizing of the United Nations mission in Kosovo is about to commence and personnel will be returning home.

This is an average year for recruitment. We want to maintain numbers. The standing Army figure on an average monthly basis is approximately 10,500, between all the different branches. There are currently vacancies in the Naval Service and the Air Corps but they are dealt with in more detail in the next question.

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