Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

People will be astounded to see the Department of Defence surrendering any money back to the Exchequer, considering the challenges that the Defence Forces are currently facing in the retention and recruitment crisis and the ambitions that have been set out, particularly in the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces.

I have raised with the Tánaiste on a number of occasions the fact that now, into the third budget following the Commission on the Defence Forces, he has missed by quite a wide margin the additional capital funding targets that were set out in the commission's report. In his first year as Minister, he underreached the ambition by €70 million. The Tánaiste, again, underreached by €70 million and in this year's budget, he has missed the mark by a further €30 million.

In terms of current expenditure, the Tánaiste mentioned the €9 million predominantly made up of pay. Will he clarify whether that money remained within the Department and precisely how much of that money remained within the Department or within the Defence Forces overall?

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