Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Independent)
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949. To ask the Minister for Defence his plans to engage in further recruitment campaigns for Army personnel. [34786/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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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. I am advised by the Military Authorities that the strength of the Permanent Defence Force, at 30 June 2013, the latest date for which details are available, was 9,093 comprising 7,306 Army, 779 Air Corps and 1,008 Naval Service personnel. These figures do not include 70 members of the PDF who are currently on Career Breaks or Leave of Absence. This is against the stabilised strength for the Permanent Defence Force of 9,500. In the context of the current strength being below the agreed stabilised strength, it is my intention that targeted recruitment will take place, within the resource envelope allocated to Defence, from the existing 2012 General Service Recruitment panels in the Autumn. No decisions have yet been made with regard to General Service recruitment in 2014.

A 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. In addition it is proposed to advertise competitions for the recruitment of Apprentices for the Air Corps and Engine Room Artificers for the Naval Service in the near future. Details of these competitions will be available on . 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.