Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

When these wind-downs have taken place, the number of personnel working overseas will fall from 758 to 480. There will continue to be a substantial number of people based overseas. I have been informed that if the proposal I have submitted to the Minister for Finance is accepted - even partially - we will continue to be in a position to send troops overseas. Our capacity to send troops overseas will not be affected. I accept that the Department now has to operate within a much tighter budget, due to the state of the public finances. I assure the Deputy that we will be recruiting in 2010, in order to maintain a figure of 10,000 personnel in the Army. I was also asked about the extent to which operational structures will be affected by the moratorium. It is obvious that the moratorium will have an impact on such structures, although it will be alleviated to some extent by the 50 promotions - broken down between 13 officers and 37 non-commissioned officers - for which we are providing.

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