Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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12. To ask the Minister for Defence if the Permanent Defence Force will be recruiting during 2013; if he expects there to be 9,500 personnel strength at year end; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35742/13]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the military authorities that the strength of the Permanent Defence Force, PDF, at 30 June 2013, the latest date for which details are available, was 9,093, which comprised 7,306 Army, 779 Air Corps and 1,008 Naval Service personnel. These figures do not include 70 members of the PDF who are on career breaks or on leave of absence. As the Permanent Defence Force is below the agreed serving cadre of 9,500, it is my intention that targeted recruitment will continue within the resource envelope allocated to the Department of Defence. Following on from the last general service recruitment campaign in 2012, a total of 539 general service recruits were enlisted in the Permanent Defence Force, of which 418 were enlisted in the Army and 121 in the Naval Service. It is intended that further general service recruitment will take place from the existing competition panels in the autumn. A decision on exact numbers to be taken in has not been made at this time and will depend on available resources, training capacity and vacancies.

A competition for the intake of cadets was recently advertised, the closing date for which was 26 May 2013. It is planned to take in 33 cadets from this cadetship competition in 2013. In addition, it is proposed to advertise competitions for the recruitment of apprentices for the Air Corps and engine room artificers for the Naval Service in the near future.

With the support of the Chief of Staff and within the resources available, it is intended to retain the capacity of the Defence Forces to operate effectively across all roles and to undertake the tasks laid down by the Government at home and overseas.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the intention to recruit, but I would like us to do our figures on this. Am I right to assume we are 407 members short of the commitment to maintain a force of 9,500?

Am I to expect, therefore, that the Minister will honour his commitment of maintaining the force at 9,500? The Minister of State has referred to financial constraints. Our understanding was that, notwithstanding the financial constraints, we had an agreement on the part of the Minister that the forces would stand at 9,500. One would expect therefore that the 400 plus personnel that are required to bring the number up to 9,500 would be recruited as soon as possible and that they would be recruited in the course of 2013.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Government approval has been received to maintain the strength of the Permanent Defence Force, PDF, at 9,500, the optimum level required to fill the roles assigned to it by Government. As the PDF is currently more than 300 below the agreed serving cadre, a general service recruitment will be undertaken in the autumn with the resource envelope allocated to the Department of Defence. It is our intention to maintain the floor at 9,500. Further recruitment will take place at the end of this year but the number to be recruited is dependent on the resource envelope available. We hope to be in a position to bring the force back up to the committed level of 9,500 personnel. It is our intention to do that.

As I indicated, a competition for cadets was advertised recently and it is intended that further general service recruitment will take place from existing competition panels in the autumn. The Deputy will understand that there was a significant level of interest following the advertisement for general enlistment. We will take people off the existing competition panels.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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Has a figure been fixed or is there an indication of the number that will be recruited?

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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I cannot give Deputy Ó Fearghaíl an exact figure today. It will be known later in the year. Successful applicants will be taken off existing competition panels. They are ready to be enlisted.