Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)
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261. To ask the Minister for Defence the current vacancies by rank in the Army, Naval Service and the Air Corps; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36881/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Military Authorities that the strength of the Permanent Defence Force, at 31 August 2014, the latest date for which figures are available was 9,149, comprising 7,367 Army, 752 Air Corps and 1,030 Naval Service personnel.

The following table outlines the establishment, strength and vacancies of the Permanent Defence Force, by Army, Air Corps and Naval Service as at 31 August 2014, based on the agreed stabilised strength for the Permanent Defence Force of 9,500.

Promotions are ongoing within the Officer and Non-Commissioned ranks in order to fill rank vacancies. Competitions to fill current and future vacancies in the ranks of Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel and Commandant ranks have already been held this year, while a competition for promotion to Brigadier General is scheduled for early October. As panels which were established following the 2012 Non-Commissioned Officer promotion competitions have now closed, new NCO promotion competitions to the ranks of Sergeants and above have been advertised and interviews are currently underway.

In addition, targeted recruitment is currently taking place so as to maintain the level of 9,500 personnel. It is my intention that promotions along with targeted recruitment will be carried out within the resource envelope allocated to Defence.

PDF Strength by Rank as at 31 August 2014 versus PDF Rank Establishment of 9,500