Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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909. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the number of additional recruits to the Defence Forces to date in 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23555/16]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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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, the establishment of the Permanent Defence Force and available resources. 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 as set out above in accordance with available training capacity.

I am advised by the Military Authorities that to date in 2016, a total of 246 General Service Recruits have been recruited into the Defence Forces, 199 Army and 47 Naval Service. It is envisaged that there will be an intake of 600 general services recruits in 2016. I am further advised that 9 Reserve Defence Force recruits (Army) have also been recruited to date in 2016. A recruitment campaign for the Reserve Defence Force has been advertised nationally today and further details are available on www.military.ie.

The intake of Cadets into the Permanent Defence Force is normally carried out on an annual basis taking into consideration the operational requirements of the Defence Forces and the resource envelope allocated to Defence. The 2016 Cadetship campaign is currently underway.

Direct Entry Competitions are also held as required from which specialist appointments are filled.

With the support of the Chief of Staff and within the resources available, it is intended 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.