Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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10. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the use that the Defence Forces are currently making of the Glen of Imaal. [13295/22]

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Part of the Glen of Imaal is in my constituency and I ask the Minister for an update on how the Defence Forces use it.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Glen of Imaal is the primary field firing and tactical training asset for the Defence Forces. These lands are the main training and largest live firing range areas at their disposal. This training areas has been in continuous use for over a century and remains so to this day. The facility consists of lands in the Glen of Imaal, including the air firing range and the Coolmoney Camp. The training area is in constant use for troop exercises such as overseas readiness, casualty evacuation and air firing involving both the Army and the Air Corps. I am advised by the military authorities that in the coming weeks the planned occupancy rate will range from 70% to 100%, with a slight dip in usage during the summer and then returning to 100% usage from September onwards. To reiterate and for the avoidance of any doubt, the Glen of Imaal is the primary field and firing and tactical training area and is the only range capable of accommodating many Defence Forces weapons systems. It is not intended to change its status as the primary training land bank for the Defence Forces but I can go into more detail on that if the Deputy wants.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I have no further questions. If the Minister wants to elaborate on it he can take my time.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It might be helpful to give the House a sense of the scale there. The entire training lands contain some 6,700 acres and it is the biggest land holding in the defence portfolio. The Glen of Imaal is the primary training land bank in the country. We have other significant land banks and training centres but nothing as big as the Glen of Imaal. There may have been some suggestions that we could use part of that land bank and facility for housing accommodation.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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It is very remote.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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That is probably not appropriate, it is remote and the dormitory-style facilities at the camp are not appropriate for families as they have collective shower facilities and so on. That is not an option but it is an important part of our defence land bank infrastructure.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Just in case the Department’s officials were trying to figure out what motivated the question, it really was as innocent as it stated and I wanted an update on its use. The answer is comprehensive and useful from an information point of view.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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We will go back to Question No. 5.