Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not aware of the problems the Deputy has said have emerged. If there are particular problems he wishes to bring to my attention, I will ensure they are addressed. As he knows, a three brigade Army structure was adopted in the 1990s when the strength of the Permanent Defence Force was set at approximately 11,500 personnel. This structure was retained when the White Paper on Defence in 2000 revised the ceiling to 10,500 personnel. However, it was no longer viable to retain a three brigade structure with a ceiling of 9,500 personnel, the approximate strength of the Defence Forces when I became Minister for Defence. The Defence Forces were heading towards a position where, if we had not received additional financial allocations, the numbers would have dipped below 8,000 within 18 to 24 months. At a level of 9,500 which we set as the objective strength of the Permanent Defence Force, there was too great an imbalance between the administrative support and operational elements within the three brigade structure. This made the retention of a three brigade structure completely non-viable, as opposed to the viable two brigade structure we now have in place.

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