Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

Resulting from the Government decision regarding the reduction in public service numbers and the reduced budgetary provision available for 2009, recruitment, promotions and acting up appointments in the Permanent Defence Forces were suspended. I made a submission to my colleague, the Minister for Finance, in June 2009 regarding the implications of the measures for the Permanent Defence Force. My focus is on maintaining the ongoing operational capability of the Defence Forces and, therefore, the question of limited exceptions to the application of the measures arises in this regard. I outlined the need for limited recruitment, promotions and acting appointments for the Defence Forces in my submission to the Minister.

As I announced on the 24 November, an allocation of 50 promotions was approved for the Permanent Defence Force by the Minister for Finance. These promotions were approved to address priority operational and command requirements of the Permanent Defence Force. These promotions, therefore, must be allocated in a manner that gives protection to the operational capacity of the Defence Forces. In addition, the allocation must be balanced across both officer and enlisted ranks having regard to the operational requirements of the Defence Forces. Military management has been reviewing existing vacancies in all ranks across the organisation as a whole to prioritise those to be filled from the approved promotions. Following the military review, a number of priority posts have been identified and I am pleased to confirm that nine officer promotions and 27 enlisted promotions have been progressed. Some have been completed and the remainder will be completed in the coming days. A number of senior technical officer vacancies also have to be filled and competitions are being organised to fill these posts. The residual approved promotions will be used to fill priority posts arising in the next few months. In addition, approximately 30 vacancies will be filled through acting up appointments in the coming weeks.

My officials are continuing to engage with the military authorities regarding the review of structures and posts required to meet the operational requirements of the Defence Forces in light of the Government decision to maintain a complement of 10,000 personnel. I am glad that, while these are challenging times, the Defence Forces have risen to the challenge and are organised, equipped and staffed in a manner which will ensure they can continue to deliver the services required of them by Government.

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