Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am advised by the military authorities that the strength of the Permanent Defence Force, PDF, at 30 June 2013, the latest date for which details are available, was 9,093, which comprised 7,306 Army, 779 Air Corps and 1,008 Naval Service personnel. These figures do not include 70 members of the PDF who are on career breaks or on leave of absence. As the Permanent Defence Force is below the agreed serving cadre of 9,500, it is my intention that targeted recruitment will continue within the resource envelope allocated to the Department of Defence. Following on from the last general service recruitment campaign in 2012, a total of 539 general service recruits were enlisted in the Permanent Defence Force, of which 418 were enlisted in the Army and 121 in the Naval Service. It is intended that further general service recruitment will take place from the existing competition panels in the autumn. A decision on exact numbers to be taken in has not been made at this time and will depend on available resources, training capacity and vacancies.

A competition for the intake of cadets was recently advertised, the closing date for which was 26 May 2013. It is planned to take in 33 cadets from this cadetship competition in 2013. In addition, it is proposed to advertise competitions for the recruitment of apprentices for the Air Corps and engine room artificers for the Naval Service in the near future.

With the support of the Chief of Staff and within the resources available, it is intended to retain the capacity of the Defence Forces to operate effectively across all roles and to undertake the tasks laid down by the Government at home and overseas.

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