Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

Regarding the Deputy's comments on the speed at which the process is being driven, we do not want to impose it on anyone and are taking a partnership approach based on agreement. My answer may have been misleading in that I mentioned four posts in the IT area and three in the archives area, but the catering business has also been contracted out, which has released 100 soldiers for operational duties. I understand ten other posts are under consideration for civilianisation. Some 830 civilians are employed in the Defence Forces.

The White Paper of 2000 was based on the PricewaterhouseCoopers report of 1994. The world and the Army have changed greatly since. The Army has been downsized by around 25% and its focus has shifted very much towards overseas missions, in respect of which there less scope for civilianisation. We are proceeding more slowly than originally anticipated because circumstances have changed dramatically.

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