Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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770. To ask the Minister for Defence when did the Army last recruit; the number that were taken on; when the Army will be recruiting again; approximately the number that will be taken on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27807/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Military Authorities that the strength of the Permanent Defence Force, at 30 April 2013, the latest date for which details are available, was 9,163 comprising 7,355 Army, 780 Air Corps and 1,028 Naval Service personnel. This is against the stabilised strength for the Permanent Defence Force of 9,500. In this context it is my intention that targeted recruitment will continue within the resource envelope allocated to Defence. Following on from the last General Service recruitment campaign in 2012 a total of 539 General Service recruits were enlisted in the Permanent Defence Force, of which 418 were enlisted in the Army, and 121 in the Naval Service. It is intended that further general service recruitment will take place from the existing competition panels in the Autumn. A decision on exact numbers to be taken in has not been made at this time and will depend on available resources, training capacity and vacancies.

A recruitment competition for the intake of Cadets was recently advertised, the closing date for which was 26 May 2013. It is planned to take in 33 Cadets from this Cadetship competition in 2013.

With the support of the Chief of Staff and within the resources available, I intend to retain the capacity of the Defence Forces to operate effectively across all roles and to undertake the tasks laid down by Government both at home and overseas.