Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I apologise on behalf of the Minister for Defence, Deputy Alan Shatter, who is unable to take questions today. He is attending a European Council meeting on behalf of the Department of Justice and Equality.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 49, 50 and 51 together. The consolidation of the Defence Forces formations into a smaller number of locations is a key objective in the ongoing defence modernisation programme and has been recommended in many reports in recent years. This was a key consideration of Government in addressing this issue as releasing personnel from security and support functions enables the operational capacity of the Defence Forces to be maintained notwithstanding the fall in strength.

The savings that will arise in respect of utilities, security duty allowance and maintenance will be approximately €0.4 million in respect of Mullingar, €0.4 million in respect of Clonmel, €0.35 million in respect of Cavan and €0.1 million in respect of Castlebar. In addition to the cost of utilities each barracks requires a security detail and additional further personnel are tied up on purely administrative duties connected to the management of the particular barracks. In addition, because maintaining barrack security can require around the clock cover a much larger pool of personnel is required. Consequently, several hundred additional man years will become available for operational duties. At a minimum, the value of this efficiency gain across the four locations will exceed €5 million per year.

Expenditure at the receiving barracks is an estimated €1 million to provide immediate accommodation, including some temporary measures. A further €3 million to €4 million will be required for permanent works in the next two to three years. In Custume Barracks in Athlone there is sufficient accommodation to provide for personnel relocating from the barracks in Cavan and Mullingar who choose to live in barracks on a single living-in basis. Mess, dining and other welfare facilities will also be available to these personnel from existing facilities at Custume Barracks. Work-related accommodation will also be put in place before personnel relocate. There are no plans for providing extra accommodation in Sarsfield Barracks, Limerick. However, it is expected there will be a requirement for the provision of additional locker facilities at an estimated cost of €50,000. There will be no requirement for expenditure in Stephens Barracks, Kilkenny, as personnel relocating there will be filling existing vacancies. Alternative arrangements for Reserve Defence Force units located at the closing barracks has not yet been finalised but will be put in place before 30 March 2012.

Defence Forces regulations provide for the payment of certain allowances to qualifying personnel on change of station. The allowances payable depend on the individual circumstances of each applicant. In general, prescribed travel allowances may be paid for up to nine months. There is also provision in the regulations to cover certain costs, such as auctioneers and legal fees incurred by qualifying personnel who purchase a house at their new station. As the allowances payable will be based on individual circumstances it is not possible to say what the final costs will be. However, based on the 2009 barracks closures 326 qualifying personnel in the four locations that closed received some €677,000 in total in change of station allowances, an average of €2,077 per person. It is likely that the average change of station allowance payment per qualifying person will be of the same order on this occasion.

The Department of Defence is arranging for the briefing of personnel in respect of change of station allowance in the coming weeks. The purpose of these briefings is to give an outline of the change of station allowance scheme to the relevant personnel and to address, in so far as possible, any issues of concern that may arise.

Once they become vacant the four barracks being closed will be administered by the Department which will be responsible for security pending disposal. An assessment of the security requirement will be carried out in advance of the closures and appropriate measures put in place. The Deputy will appreciate that I should not go into details at this stage.

Based on the experience of previous closures, it is anticipated the impact on local communities will be negligible. This is based on the experience that most of the personnel serving in these installations live in the areas and will continue to do so in the future.

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