Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

For the avoidance of any doubt, the Department of Defence has civil and military branches and, with the serving Minister as head, ensures civil control of the armed forces of the State.

The Secretary General heads the civil element while the Chief of Staff heads the military element of the Department of Defence, known as the Defence Forces headquarters which I should point out has an establishment of 327 military personnel. Both civil and military elements provide supports to me, as Minister of State, in the management of defence. I wish to make it clear that the Chief of Staff, the general staff and the generals commanding the various brigades and formations all have direct and independent access to me and can and do provide whatever advice they wish to provide directly to me. I listen to and respect all the advice, whether civil or military. Like all Ministers responsible to this House, the way in which I use this advice rests with me and I must balance it with a wider governmental and policy perspective.

A further dimension which distinguishes defence is its international footprint. Currently some 673 members of the Irish Defence Forces are deployed overseas on peace support operations. These missions arise and are sustained by policy work led by my Department and the contribution of the individual members of the Defence Forces who serve overseas, often on difficult and dangerous missions. I have proposed in the counter-motion that the House again acknowledge the ultimate sacrifice made by members of the Defence Forces in the service of their country overseas.

Regarding White Paper implementation, a total of 95 separate projects are to be completed over a ten-year period. This is being managed by a joint civil-military team. Every project is led jointly by senior civil and military personnel working together. I am pleased to report that, to date, 42 projects have been initiated and 14 have closed, with others expected to close shortly. These are all sizeable projects in their own right and cover the very issues which are of concern, including human resources, equipment, barracks development and much more.

As for funding for defence, the White Paper emphasises the Government's commitment to necessary resourcing of defence into the future. It highlights the connectivity between defence provision and the proper functioning of civil society. The two defence Votes, Vote 35 - Army Pensions and Vote 36 - Defence, provide in 2019 for gross expenditure of just over €1 billion, an increase of €60 million, or 6.4%, over 2018 expenditure.

I wish to draw attention to the fact that the motion includes a false claim that there was an underspend of over €92 million on defence from 2014 to 2018. The true position is that underspends, where they arose, largely due to reduced strength levels, have primarily been redirected elsewhere into the defence Votes, for example for equipment procurement via Vote 36 or to meet shortfalls in the Army Pensions Vote. These reallocations have been the subject of approval by this House year on year. The suggestion that any underspend could be allocated to increasing the pay of members of the Permanent Defence Force is simply incorrect.

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