Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

Will the Minister confirm to the House that there are currently more servicemen on pensions than in active service? I saw a statistic to this effect in one of the national newspapers recently. I know the Defence Forces are different, but in all other Departments in the Civil Service the ratio is three active personnel to every one retired person. That is the general ratio across the Civil Service. If the mandatory retirement age was 60 for personnel at officer level, this would redress the balance somewhat. It seems 54 is quite young for a captain to retire. Life expectancy is much higher now than when these retirement ages were set some time ago. In addition, it is obvious that fitness levels among the Army have increased considerably. If we in the House had to retire at 54 we would all, apart from Deputy Collins, be leaving politics at this stage.

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