Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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412. To ask the Minister for Defence the extent to which agreement has been reached with members of the Defence Forces due to retire on completion of the relevant service but who are anxious to remain in the Defence Forces for a further period of time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12126/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, I, along with my colleague Mr Brendan Howlin, T.D., Minister for Public Expenditure & Reform, have accepted the findings of the Adjudicator's Report in respect of the Permanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association (PDFORRA) claim under the Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme in relation to the service limits for Privates and Corporals who enlisted post 1 January 1994.

The report of the Adjudicator was laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas on 4 March 2015.

Military life places unique physical and psychological demands on individuals and it is necessary that its members be physically and mentally prepared to meet the challenges of all military operations and to undertake their duties on deployment overseas.  To this end, it is vital the age and health profile of personnel be such as to ensure that operational capability and effectiveness are not compromised in any way.

I believe that the key elements of Defence Forces manpower policy have been maintained with this finding. The adjudication, strikes a reasonable balance between the need for regular throughput/turnover of personnel, while also retaining appropriate experience and expertise.