Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 395: To ask the Minister for Defence if he has made any order in relation to the retention of the Equitation School in the Defence Forces; or if he has rescinded the order in this regard of the previous Minister; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17293/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes which was established to examine all current Exchequer spending across all Departments and agencies and to identify where expenditure and staff savings might be made identified a saving by discontinuing the Army Equitation School. Despite this, on 3 March last, the then Minister for Defence, Éamon Ó Cuív TD, gave a direction to the Department of Defence that the re-organisation of the Defence Forces should progress on the basis that, inter alia, the Equitation School of the Defence Forces will be retained in the review of the Defence Vote programmes and expenditure arising from the National Recovery Plan 2011 – 2014. WhilstI currently have no plans to discontinue the operation of the Army Equitation School, I will be keeping the matter under review, the previous Minister's direction notwithstanding.