Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to deal with the two Departments for which I have responsibility. I will deal first with the Department of Defence before moving to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

The defence organisation which encompasses the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces has a proud track record of reform. This has been a critical factor in the maintenance of a broad range of capabilities within reduced resources in recent years and ensured the Defence Forces can continue to deliver the required operational outputs, both at home and abroad. The overall gross defence sector allocation provision for 2015 is €897 million, comprising €676 million for the defence Vote and €221 million for the Army pensions Vote. This is a significant allocation of funding and will provide the resources necessary to deliver on the key objectives for 2015.

At the strategic level, all outputs of the defence organisation are encompassed in a single programme within the defence Vote. The key outputs from the programme are grouped under three strategic headings: defence policy; ensuring the capacity to deliver; and Defence Forces' operations.

To allow the Defence Forces to effectively deliver on their outputs and undertake the tasks laid down by Government at home and overseas, an adequately resourced Permanent Defence Force, PDF, is obviously required. In this regard, the 2015 defence pay allocation of some €495 million will provide for a PDF strength of up to 9,500. In addition, it will provide for the pay and allowances of some 625 civilian employees, 350 civil servants, 18 chaplains and 14 army nurses. Targeted recruitment is continuing to ensure ongoing the operational capacity of the Defence Forces to meet their prescribed roles. To that end I am pleased to announce that 220 Defence Forces recruits are currently in training and plans are under way to enlist some 180 additional recruits by the end of this year. In addition, 37 cadets have commenced training in the cadet school, while 15 apprentice aircraft technicians have also commenced training in the Air Corps.

In parallel to the reorganisation of the PDF in recent years, we have seen significant organisational reform of the Reserve Defence Force, RDF, arising from a recent value-for-money study. The RDF reorganisation was implemented last year. The RDF has undergone major change. One of the key outcomes is the new single force concept, which means we will have Army units with permanent and reserve components rather than having a separate stand-alone reserve. I take this opportunity to convey my appreciation to the many committed members of the RDF who give so willingly of their time and energy in the service of the State.

Our overseas commitments remain a key priority within the defence sector. On 1 October, Ireland was contributing 420 personnel to 14 missions throughout the world. Currently, the main deployments are 195 personnel to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, better known as UNIFIL, and 135 personnel to the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, UNDOF, in Syria. People will have come to know this acronym in recent weeks. Prior to deployment, troops selected for overseas missions are subject to a rigorous programme of mission-specific training to ensure their capacity to undertake the tasks expected of them. Irish troops overseas have access to the most modern and effective weapons and equipment. This training and equipment proved invaluable to personnel serving with UNDOF following an escalation of the conflict on the Golan Heights. I take this opportunity to commend the professionalism and courage of the 44th Infantry Group on its role as UNDOF's quick reaction force and on discharging its duties very effectively along with all the peacekeepers participating in UNDOF in recent weeks. Members of the 44th Infantry Group have now returned home and I was particularly pleased to meet them in Baldonnel on their return. I wish every member of the 46th Infantry Group, which has now deployed to UNDOF, a safe and successful mission.

At home, the Defence Forces provide invaluable assistance to the civil authorities and powers in dealing with a variety of events, planned and unplanned. These events cover a broad sweep, including severe weather emergencies, gorse fires, maritime patrols, air ambulance missions, cash-in-transit escorts and missing person searches.

A considerable element of the Defence Forces Vote provides for essential standing and operational costs of the Defence Forces and the necessary procurement of replacement equipment across Army, naval and Air Corps structures. Standing and operational costs incorporate expenditure on utilities, fuel, catering, maintenance, information technology requirements and so on.

The 2015 allocation for equipment purchases provides a significant contribution towards the naval vessel replacement programme and the purchase of a third offshore patrol vessel for the Naval Service. By taking up the option of purchasing a third ship under the existing contract, the Department ensured that the new ship would be bought at 2012 prices and that the cost would not be index-linked. The first vessel, LE Samuel Beckett, was delivered in 2014, and LE James Joyceis expected in February next year. These acquisitions, which will replace older ships, have been funded from within the reduced defence allocation of previous years and the maintained allocation for this year, a further illustration of the prudent financial approach adopted by the defence sector in recent times.

The Government is supportive of the decade of centenaries commemoration projects and has made funds available over the period 2014 to 2016 to improve access to the facilities at the military archives at Cathal Brugha Barracks. Furthermore, in 2014, the first two tranches of material from the military service pensions collection were made available online, and I am pleased to note that further material from this historic collection will be released over the coming years.

I acknowledge the significant contribution that Civil Defence volunteers make in supporting the efforts of the front-line services in responding to major emergencies and the tremendous value for money that their voluntary efforts provide to the State. As well as grant aid and policy advice and support, the Department of Defence provides other supports to local Civil Defence units, such as central training for local instructors in a train-the-trainer system through the Civil Defence College, located in Roscrea. The Department also assists with supplying vehicles, boats, uniforms and personal protective equipment for volunteers and a wide range of other equipment to local authorities for Civil Defence use.

A grant is provided for the Irish Red Cross through my Department. Ongoing funding is made available to the Army Equitation School, with approximately €860,000 to be allocated next year. It is important to note the history and continuing contribution of the Army Equitation School to the horse sports sector in Ireland, which in my view is considerable.

The army pensions Vote, which funds the payment of some 12,900 military pensions of all categories, will have a gross allocation of some €221 million for 2015. This expenditure is primarily non-discretionary and is demand-driven.

Before I conclude on defence matters, I wish to point to the future. We are in the process of putting together a White Paper on defence. I expect to have a draft ready before the end of the year with a view to having a consultation process on the draft early in the new year. This should allow us to finalise the White Paper, a document that will essentially set defence policy for the next ten years. From a defence point of view, this year's budgetary process was about stopping the cuts and maintaining expenditure into next year. On the back of a White Paper on defence, my ambition is to see an increasing defence budget in future to ensure we can fulfil all the roles the Defence Forces will be obliged to fulfil in the context of the new policy vision.

Yesterday, we saw a significant budget from an agricultural point of view. The Exchequer contribution to the Vote of my Department will amount to €1.251 billion in 2015, comprising €1.036 billion of current expenditure and €215 million in capital expenditure. This represents an overall increase of €32 million over last year's figure. This is the first time my Department has increased expenditure since 2009.

In successive budgets, this Government has prioritised agriculture and food as a major economic driver for the Irish economy. The sector has responded by performing strongly through the economic downturn. Food and drink exports reached an all-time high last year at somewhere over €10 billion, a 40% increase in value terms on 2009. However, there are challenges ahead, as well as others to be addressed as we speak, and the measures announced as part of budget 2015 form part of the policy response to those challenges.

A comprehensive agri-taxation policy initiative was taken yesterday by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan. In the past 12 months my Department and the Department of Finance held a consultation process which resulted in yesterday's announcement. In all, 12 new measures are introduced in budget 2015, as part of an overall package of 25 measures designed to encourage the more productive use of agricultural land and increase the amount of leased land available. The key taxation measures in the budget are aimed at increasing land mobility through increasing the income thresholds for relief on leasing income by 50% and the introduction of a fourth threshold for lease periods of 15 years or more. If a farmer or land owner who has a significant farm in size and scale agrees to lease the farm for 15 years, he or she can now secure up to €40,000 in income, tax free, from leasing that land. Obviously, there is a series of tiers beneath that figure. However, these are significant changes and they will change land markets into the future in terms of moving the focus away from conacre to long-term leasing, which is exactly what we want. In addition, the lower age threshold of 40 years of age for eligibility has been removed from that measure. It was totally inappropriate.

Assisting succession and the transfer of farms has been a central part of the Government's agri-taxation policy and budget 2015 includes a number of measures to maintain and strengthen that support. They include the retention of agricultural relief from capital acquisitions tax, retirement relief from capital gains tax, the current stamp duty exemptions on transfers of land and other new measures, including a targeting of agricultural relief from capital acquisitions tax at qualified or full-time farmers or those who lease land on a long-term basis. There is an extension of the eligible letting period under the retirement relief for a qualifying asset to 25 years.

The income averaging measure has also been enhanced by increasing the period from three to five years. This is a response to the price volatility we have experienced this year in beef markets and which we might experience next year in dairy and milk markets. Farmers must be able to have consistency across a number of years with regard to income averaging, which is the reason we extended the period from three to five years.

The budget marks the commencement of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, RDP, which will be a key support for rural areas. My Department is awaiting formal observations from the Commission on the draft RDP. Formal approval of the programme will be pursued as a matter of priority. I have secured a combined allocation of €439 million in the 2015 Estimatesfor capital and current expenditure on RDP schemes. As the amount this year is €405 million, it is an increase of nearly €35 million.

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