Joe O'Reilly (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I have been in dialogue over the past few weeks with representatives of PDFORRA, with the families involved and with the local community around the Dún Uí Néill in Cavan and as a consequence of that dialogue, I have been in regular consultation with the Minister and his senior officials in bringing the welfare issues and the general concerns of the personnel there to the Minister. As Deputy Smith, my constituency colleague, made reference to, last night I attended and participated in an excellently run, fine public meeting in Cavan. I propose to continue engaging in that dialogue with the personnel and the Minister.

I want to put in context a couple of unavoidable issues that surround this debate. When we agreed to the IMF-EU deal we sold out our economic sovereignty. It is a legacy issue and it happened during the term of the previous Government. That IMF-EU deal makes it mandatory for the State to achieve a budget deficit next year of 8.6% of GDP. That, in practical terms, means - this is contingent on the Exchequer returns in November - that there will be no less than €3.6 billion in cuts in next year's budget. That further means there must be up to €30 million in cuts in the Department of Defence, and that raises fundamental questions. This is an unavoidable backdrop to the debate. Everything that the Government is doing is predicated on the effort to restore our economic sovereignty, get our people working again and restore the fortunes of our country.

The strength of the Defence Forces has been cut back to 1970 levels. At the end of 2000, there were 10,726 personnel in the Defence Forces; today, there are 9,500. That is another legacy issue.

The Minister and the Department are determined to maintain the current strength of the Army, and there is a couple of compelling reasons to do this. We have in excess of 800 personnel serving abroad, and we want to maintain that. We have to deal with unforeseen events, such as storms. My colleague, Deputy Smith, correctly alluded to the role of the Defence Forces in disease eradication. We have to sustain the morale of the Defence Forces. There is a constant need to be ready to assist in the event of disasters or emergencies. For those reasons, the Minister and the Fine Gael Party in government are determined to preserve the strength of the Defence Forces.

My personal hope is that people will be recruited into the Defence Forces over the coming months, if it is necessary to preserve the existing strength of the Defence Forces. I commend that possibility to the Minister in the interests of maintaining the current personnel levels. I will ask him to consider it every time I speak to him.

Fine Gael values the role of the Defence Forces. Our historic commitment to the Defence Forces goes back to the foundation of the State. We will not be found wanting in defence of the Defence Forces and in consolidation of their numbers.

Part of the backdrop to this debate is the fact that senior management personnel in the Army have consistently sought the consolidation of their barracks. That has been recommended in report after report. It is worth repeating that the Deputies opposite closed a plethora of barracks across this country in 1998 and 2009. I will not list the barracks in question because I am facing time constraints.

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