Results 7,801-7,820 of 17,012 for speaker:Paul Kehoe

Other Questions: Defence Forces Remuneration (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: I did not use the word "customers".

Other Questions: Defence Forces Remuneration (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: I outlined to the Deputy the pay increases. All elements of the public service were subjected to pay cuts during the financial crisis. On completion of recruit and three star training, newly qualified three star privates and their Naval Service equivalents can expect minimum gross annual earnings of €27,000, up from €21,800 last year. A newly qualified non-graduate entry...

Other Questions: Defence Forces Remuneration (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: I am the first to recognise that when barracks closed during the reorganisation extra costs were incurred by members of the Defence Forces and I am not disputing this. Since I was appointed to this position in May 2016 I have asked that members of the Defence Forces are located as closely as possible to their homes and this is happening. A number of family initiatives have been introduced...

Other Questions: Defence Forces Remuneration (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: In pay restoration for all public servants anybody on less than €70,000 per year will have their pay fully restored and this is part of the legislation going through the Seanad at present and which went through the House last week. I engage regularly with the representative organisations PDFORRA and RACO. The report of the Public Service Pay Commission published in May 2017...

Other Questions: Defence Forces Strength (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: From the most recent figures available, the strength of the Permanent Defence Force is currently 9,219 personnel, or 97% of the establishment of 9,500 personnel. To return to and maintain the agreed strength levels, significant targeted recruitment has taken place in 2017 which resulted to date in 702 personnel being inducted, comprising general service recruits, cadets and specialists for...

Other Questions: Defence Forces Expenditure (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: That will be a matter for the Dáil and, as an elected Member of this House, the Deputy has an opportunity to vote on the annual budget for the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces. That is where the money comes from - it is State funding and we have committed to increasing defence spending, in both the programme for Government and the White Paper.

Other Questions: Defence Forces Expenditure (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: Why do we fund hospitals or education?

Other Questions: Defence Forces Expenditure (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: It is easy to trot this sort of stuff out but last Wednesday evening I spent an hour and a half in committee, where I was asked the exact same question about why this was taken out of the blue. I have answered questions in the Oireachtas, both written and oral, on PESCO. I answered written questions on the matter on 16 December 2016, 17 May 2017, 12 July 2017 and 22 November 2017, and I...

Other Questions: Defence Forces Expenditure (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: I understand the rules of the House but I would have liked another opportunity to respond.

Other Questions: Defence Forces Remuneration (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 51, 57, 64, 70 and 83 together. As I said earlier in reply to a previous question, the pay of the Permanent Defence Force, similar to other areas within the public service, was reduced during the financial crisis. The reductions in pay were on a graduated scale with higher percentages being deducted from those on higher earnings. This action was one of...

Other Questions: Defence Forces Remuneration (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: I remind the Deputy that fewer than 117 people, out of a total of 9,219 or 9,220 whole-time equivalent members, are in receipt of family income supplement in the Defence Forces. It is totally untrue to say there is a large number, or a high percentage, of people in the Defence Forces in receipt of family income supplement. This information is also in the public domain. The Deputy...

Other Questions: Defence Forces Strength (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: I would be the first to state we have faced challenges in fulfilling our gender targets. I have asked both civil and military management to look at recent recruitment campaigns and to establish the number of female applicants for the Permanent Defence Force, and how many may have fallen off by the time of interview or around the time of the medical and fitness test. This is very important...

Other Questions: Defence Forces Strength (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: The Army has by far the highest number of applications within the Permanent Defence Force. On pensions, a review is under way for all contracts of enlisted personnel from 1994 to 2006. Over the past two to three years we have been losing young, fit men and women who have the capability and capacity to give another ten years or more to the Permanent Defence Force. I announced this review...

Other Questions: Defence Forces Expenditure (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: I am pleased to inform the House that yesterday, at the Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels, Ireland joined the other 24 EU partners in collectively launching PESCO. Joining PESCO does not involve an additional cost to the Exchequer. Additional costs may arise in respect of participation in specific PESCO projects similar to the case where the Defence Forces participate in European...

Other Questions: Defence Forces Expenditure (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: The White Paper on Defence clearly states there will be ongoing investment in the Defence Forces. I have stated this on numerous occasions, here in the Chamber last week, before the select committee last Wednesday evening and in replies to parliamentary questions over the past 12 to 18 months. PESCO is provided for in the Treaty on European Union in Articles 42.6 and 46 and Protocol 10,...

Other Questions: Army Barracks (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: There are no plans to reopen any of the barracks that were closed during the recent reorganisation of the Defence Forces. I absolutely take the Deputy's comments on board but while the purpose of the Defence Forces is to protect the security of the State, it would be totally irresponsible to say that they have a role to play such as that suggested by the Deputy. The role of Defence Forces...

Other Questions: Army Barracks (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: As the Minister of State with responsibility for defence, it is my priority to ensure the operational capability of the Defence Forces is maintained to its greatest possible extent to enable the Army, the Air Corps and the Naval Service to carry out all of their roles as assigned by the Government. I have been assured by the Chief of Staff that, in providing aid to the civil power or in the...

Other Questions: Army Barracks (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: -----but that is a matter for the Minister for Justice and Equality. The Deputy should raise that matter with the Minister.

Other Questions: Army Barracks (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: I absolutely disagree with Deputy Niamh Smyth. If members of the Defence Forces were patrolling local communities across the Border region, it would totally send out the wrong message. Such a deployment would be absolutely and completely inappropriate. I am personally opposed to it. As already stated, if An Garda Síochána requests that members of the Defence Forces be deployed...

Other Questions: Army Barracks (12 Dec 2017)

Paul Kehoe: We are a totally new generation of people and I do not want my children or those of anybody else to have to remember the Defence Forces stationed on the Border.