Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

The Deputy will be aware of the restrictions on recruitment to the public service generally arising from the necessity to restore balance to the public finances. In the context of this challenge, the Government intends to maintain the operational efficiency of the Defence Forces to the greatest extent possible, as I mentioned earlier.

To this end, targeted recruitment was carried out in 2010 and to date in 2011. The military authorities have advised that to date in 2011 a total of 290 general service recruits have been enlisted. Given the particular circumstances of the Defence Forces it is my intention that targeted recruitment will continue within the resource envelope allocated to defence for 2012. As previously mentioned, there is a possibility that there will be some additional recruitment this year. Definitive decisions on that have yet to be made.

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