Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

593. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence his views that there should be an increase in defence expenditure in budget 2017, given that the current expenditure of around 0.5% of gross domestic product is one of the lowest expenditures on defence across the European Union; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17302/16]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The White Paper on Defence, published in 2015, sets out the roles that Government has assigned to the Defence Forces and the associated capability requirements. I am fully committed to ensuring that appropriate financial resources are provided to facilitate effective delivery across all of these assigned roles, into the future. Security environments differ across all EU states and each country pursues a Defence policy that reflects its particular requirements. Consequently, the proportion of overall funding allocated to Defence can fluctuate between member states.

The expenditure allocation for Defence for 2017 will not be settled until the Budgetary process is concluded, later in the year.