David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)

Will the Minister agree that the employment control framework is important for the Defence Forces both from the point of view of morale and operations? How many promotions are currently on hold in the Defence Forces? Can the Minister give a breakdown of those and if he does not have information to hand, perhaps he will provide it later. Will he agree that the Defence Forces have already taken major cuts? For instance, the Reserve Defence Force has been virtually wiped out at this stage. It has taken a long time for employment control framework to be agreed and the Minister might tell why it has taken so long to get it to this stage? How long more will it be before he will be in a position to make decisions with regard to the promotions he mentioned? Will it be one month, two months, six months or whatever? What is his estimate?

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