Results 13,941-13,960 of 19,162 for speaker:Alan Shatter

Written Answers — Defence Forces Personnel: Defence Forces Personnel (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: A total of 19 female personnel have left the Permanent Defence Force in 2011. There are no female members of the Permanent Defence Force due to retire on age grounds during the remainder of 2011 or in 2012. It is not possible to estimate how many female personnel will leave the Permanent Defence Force for reasons other than age during this period. I have made clear that I will endeavour to...

Written Answers — Defence Forces Recruitment: Defence Forces Recruitment (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: The Employment Control Framework (ECF) for the Defence Forces is based on a figure of 10,000 all ranks, appropriately configured across the Army, Naval Service and Air Corps to enable them meet the roles assigned by Government. The number of positions by rank in the Permanent Defence Force as of 30 September 2011 currently waiting to be filled, as compared with the Employment Control...

Written Answers — Departmental Properties: Departmental Properties (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: On 15 July 1998 the then Government approved a programme of the closure and sale of six barracks considered surplus to military requirements. The barracks in question were located at Ballincollig, Fermoy, Naas, Castleblayney, Kildare, and Islandbridge, Dublin.The sale of 97 acres approximately at Murphy Barracks, Ballincollig was completed in 2003 for a total of €42 million. The bulk of the...

Written Answers — Defence Forces Strength: Defence Forces Strength (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: I propose to take Questions Nos. 113 to 115, inclusive, together. I am advised by the Military authorities that the total strength of the Defence Forces at 30 September 2011, the latest date for which figures are available was 9,458, comprising 7,666 Army, 784 Air Corps and 1,008 Naval Service personnel. A comprehensive breakdown of the total strength of each branch of the Defence Forces...

Written Answers — Defence Forces Strength: Defence Forces Strength (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: I am advised by the military authorities that the strength of the Army Reserve and the Naval Service Reserve at 30 September 2011, the latest date for which figures are available, was 5,362. There were 5,107 personnel in the Army Reserve, 31 personnel in the Reserve Defence Force Training Academy and 224 personnel in the Naval Service Reserve. The strength of the Army Reserve and the Naval...

Army Barracks (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: As the Deputy may have heard me remark, no final decisions have been made on the further consolidation of barracks as part of the comprehensive review programme being undertaken. During November, the Government will make decisions applicable to all Departments on how to affect not merely savings, but also efficiencies. If there were barrack closures that had implications for Custume...

Army Barracks (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: It is of crucial importance, to the Deputy and all Deputies, that if there is further barrack consolidation which requires the movement of troops from one barracks to another, all necessary steps will be taken to ensure proper facilities are available and should that require some capital investment, that would have to be undertaken but it would have to be within the constraints that exist on...

Army Barracks (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 18 together. As of now, as I said, no decision has been made by the Government on the future of any military installation. However, the issue of the closure of barracks will be considered shortly as part of the comprehensive review of expenditure. Various commissions, reports and studies back to the 1990s identified barrack closures as a fundamental...

Army Barracks (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: I welcome the Deputy's support for our Defence Forces and I know he would agree with me that they perform a very important function both in serving the civil power domestically within this State and in the work they have undertaken under the auspices of the UN in a variety of peacekeeping missions across the world. My concern is to ensure we continue to retain within the Defence Forces the...

Army Barracks (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: I note with interest some of the questions raised by the Deputy. He asked was my approach to this being dictated by military personnel. Of course, military personnel do not dictate to the Minister for Defence, but they have the expertise to give advice to the Minister for Defence as to what are the strategic necessities when it comes to barracks location and how to best maximise the...

Army Barracks (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: I thought Deputy Boyd Barrett's view would be that we should not have a defence force at all and I am taken by his concerns for the Defence Forces. In the context of Deputy Boyd Barrett's comment about costs, the cost of providing services, be they through the Defences Forces or through any other arm of Government, do not seem to be a concern to him. He seems to be flaithiúlach with the...

Army Barracks (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: Sadly, the reality is that in order to pay currently the wages of the Defence Forces, of teachers, doctors and nurses, and of many others in the public service, we are dependent on two factors: first, complying with the EU-IMF agreement and reducing our borrowing requirements, and second, the continued receipt of money to make up the difference between what the State receives and spends. I...

Defence Forces Recruitment (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: A competition for the appointment of doctors to the Medical Corps was advertised. Unfortunately, there was a limited response and only two applications are currently being processed in this regard. The competition remains open and a further advertisement will be published shortly. Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis but it will obviously take some time before the current...

Defence Forces Recruitment (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: We have been contracting doctors; that has been the alternative. The ideal in the PA Consulting report shows that there would be 32 permanent members of the Medical Corps. The difficulty in reality is that posts have been advertised, funding is available to fill those posts but too few applications from appropriately qualified doctors have been received. This is an issue that has been a...

Defence Forces Recruitment (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: Essentially, part of the issue may be that there are pay issues in the context of the constraints on the pay available for the recruitment of doctors. There are also career issues with regard to doctors who have become part of the medical service within what is, by international standards, a small defence force. Some medical practitioners do not see that there is a substantial career...

Defence Forces Recruitment (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: To address the question Deputy Calleary has raised, if one looks at what I describe as the role of the medical officer in the Defence Forces first, basically, it is a specialist officer who practises medicine, not only at home but abroad. One of the attractions of joining the Defence Forces as a medic is the opportunity to accompany forces abroad in circumstances that would be quite...

Defence Forces Reserve (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: I am advised by the military authorities that the strength of the Reserve Defence Force, RDF, as at 30 September 2011, was: First Line Reserve, 287; Army Reserve, 5,138; Naval Service Reserve, 224. The number of personnel that can be recruited to the Army Reserve and Naval Service Reserve is dependent on the funding available for paid training. The 2011 budget provided for approximately...

Defence Forces Reserve (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: The reasons for the fall in the numbers are twofold. One reason is the limited amount of funding available from the December 2010 budget which applied to the Estimates for 2011. Funding was made available for no more than 200 recruits. Work is ongoing on the total numbers in the RDF and also the number of those actively in the reserve. There was always a significant difference between the...

Overseas Missions (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: Ireland has offered, through the United Nations Standby Arrangements System, UNSAS, to provide up to 850 military personnel for overseas service at any one time. This figure equates to some 10% of Ireland's standing Army, excluding reserves, and demonstrates Ireland's commitment to the cause of international peace. This is the maximum sustainable commitment that Ireland can make to overseas...

Overseas Missions (26 Oct 2011)

Alan Shatter: Deputy Boyd Barrett has obviously lost interest in peacekeeping missions. At least he is interested in the welfare of members of the Defence Forces