Michael Noonan (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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Question 199: To ask the Minister for Defence the policy decisions he has made to keep the current expenditure of his Department within the parameters allocated in his Department's budget for 2008; the savings in 2008, and the full year savings of each such initiative; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15554/08]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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As I indicated in my reply to Question No. 30 on the 10th April 2008, there are no proposals for cutbacks in the level of services provided by or through my Department in 2008. The gross total allocation for my Department in 2008 is €1,078m, comprising €888m in the Defence Vote and €190m in the Army Pensions Vote. This represents an increase of 7% on the 2007 allocation. The Defence Estimate includes additional funding of €37m for Defence Forces participation in the EUFOR mission to Chad, the bulk of which will be expended on transport costs. This additional funding will ensure that our troops in Chad will have the best possible equipment and facilities in a very challenging environment.

The agreed Programme for Government provides that, in addition to the approved strength of 10,500 Permanent Defence Force personnel, there would be up to 350 troops in training at any given time. However, as I already made clear to the House on a number of occasions, it was not possible to provide funding in this year's Estimate to implement that commitment. This is due primarily to the requirement to prioritise funding for the Chad mission. The pay costs for 350 recruits for a full year would be about €8 million. The ongoing investment in modern equipment and facilities for the Defence Forces will continue in 2008, as will the major programme to provide modern accommodation for the Defence Forces which has been ongoing over recent years.

I am satisfied that the level of funding provided in the Defence Estimate will be sufficient to meet all Departmental and Defence Forces' requirements for 2008. It is too early to say whether there will be net savings in 2008 but it is not expected that any such savings will be significant. As regards the Army Pensions Estimate, it is anticipated that there will be a requirement for a supplementary estimate in 2008 to cover, among other things, the cost of improvements in existing pension terms in the case of pre-April 2004 members of the Permanent Defence Force for which financial provision was not included in the 2008 Estimate. In that regard, my Department expects to conclude agreement with the representative associations in the near future on these improvements, as well as on the new pension scheme for personnel recruited to the Permanent Defence Force since April 2004.