Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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260. To ask the Minister for Defence the strength of the Reserve Defence Forces, the extent to which the numbers have fluctuated over the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3262/16]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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267. To ask the Minister for Defence the strength of the Army, Naval Service and Air Corps; the degree to which numbers have fluctuated over the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3269/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 260 and 267 together.

The strength of the Reserve Defence Force at the end of December, 2015 was 2,280 personnel. The 2015 White Paper on Defence sets out a developmental path for the RDF. It provides that the overarching establishment of the Army Reserve (AR) and Naval Service Reserve (NSR) is to be set at 4,169 personnel, consisting of 3,869 Army Reservists and the expansion of the establishment of the four NSR Units from currently 200 personnel to 300. A key challenge is to recruit and train sufficient personnel to meet the reserve establishment provided in the White Paper. The Defence Forces will continue to strive to improve the level of RDF recruitment in 2016.The position with regard to the extent to which Reserve numbers have fluctuated over the past five years is outlined in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Reserve Defence Force Strength over the past five years

With regard to the Permanent Defence Force, the strength figures for year-end 2015 together with the position regarding fluctuations over the past five years are set out below in Table 2.

Table 2: Permanent Defence Force Strength (by service) over the past five years

The Government is committed to maintaining the stabilised strength of the Permanent Defence Force at 9,500 personnel, comprising of 7,520 Army, 886 Air Corps and 1,094 Naval Service as stated in the 2015 White Paper on Defence.

The manpower requirement of the Defence Forces is monitored on an ongoing basis in accordance with the operational requirements of each of the three services. Personnel are posted on the basis of operational needs across the organisation both at home and abroad. As there is significant turnover of personnel in the Permanent Defence Force targeted recruitment takes place so as to maintain personnel numbers at or near the agreed strength levels.

A General Service recruitment campaign was launched on 4 August 2015. As of 31December 2015, 49 Cadets, 307 General Service Army & Navy recruits and 50 other personnel including apprentices, instrumentalist and doctors were inducted into the Defence Forces. Further recruitment campaigns are planned for 2016.

With the support of the Chief of Staff, I am confident that we shall retain the capacity of the Defence Forces to operate effectively across all roles and to undertake the tasks assigned by Government, both at home and overseas.