Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I take great umbrage at the Deputy's comments. Did he call them mandarins? It is total ignorance to call a civil servant a mandarin. It is beneath the Deputy and anybody in this House. I will say no more. It is up to the Deputy to correct the record if he wants to proceed in that manner.

Almost €1 billion is being allocated for defence spending in 2019. That is a €47 million increase, which equates to a 5% increase in 2019.

The conclusions reached in the internal document that the Deputy talks about are completely contradicted by its own analysis. It describes a 5.7% increase of €48 million and also states that there is an increase of €48 million in defence spending or 5.07% of the 2018 gross expenditure ceiling. This document was prepared internally.

I will stand over the increase and I am delighted that we gained the increase in this year's budget for defence spending. We will be able to carry on with the ongoing capital investment within the Department and the Defence Forces. The Deputy knows the real capital expenditure and investment that we are putting into the Defence Forces. On the current side there was an increase of 2.1% and an increase of 37.7% on the capital side. There is ongoing investment within the Defence Forces.

The Deputy referred to recruitment and retention. The most important thing here is that the Government has provided resources to the Defence Forces for a full personnel complement of 9,500 members.

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