Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 295: To ask the Minister for Defence the extent to which naval and Air Corps strength is adequate to combat drug or people-trafficking activities off the coasts; if coastal surveillance is adequate in all circumstances; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32228/05]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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The White Paper on Defence of February 2000 sets out a figure of 10,500 personnel for the Permanent Defence Force, comprising 930 for the Air Corps, 1,144 for the Naval Service and 8,426 for the Army.

The strength of the Permanent Defence Force, comprising the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service, as of 30 September 2005, was as follows.

I intend to maintain the established Government policy of ongoing recruitment to the Defence Forces. Recruitment into the Permanent Defence Force will continue to maintain the strength at a level required to meet military needs and as set out in the White Paper, that is, 10,500 Permanent Defence Force members, all ranks. The Government remains fully committed to the policy of ongoing recruitment to ensure that an overall PDF strength of 10,500 is maintained.

Responsibility for the prevention of drug-trafficking and other such illegal activities rests primarily with the Garda Síochána and the Revenue Commissioners. The White Paper on Defence provides for a security role for both the Naval Service and the Air Corps to assist and support the civil authorities in that important work. While the main day-to-day role of the Naval Service is to provide a fishery protection service in accordance with the State's obligations as a member of the European Union, Government measures to improve law enforcement regarding drugs, including the establishment in 1993 of a joint task force involving the gardaí, the Customs Service and the Naval Service, have helped maximise the effective use of Naval Service resources in combating drug-trafficking. The Air Corps provides air support and on occasion carries the customs national drugs team in an observation capacity for the purpose of monitoring vessels suspected of drug-trafficking or other such illegal activities.

There is close co-operation between the civil authorities and the Naval Service and the Air Corps in this important area. I am satisfied that the extent of Naval Service and Air Corps reconnaissance, in conjunction with the gardaí and the Customs Service, has had a major and beneficial impact in deterring drug-trafficking and other such illegal activities.