Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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2130. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the expenditure savings that are earmarked for his Department for 2018 that are not accounted for in the mid-year expenditure report or are not included in the fiscal space calculations for 2018. [38899/17]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The budget allocation for Defence provides mainly for the pay and allowances of the Defence Forces, civil servants and civilian employees in the Defence Sector, ongoing standing and operational costs of the Defence Forces and investment in essential equipment and infrastructure. It also provides for the payment of pension entitlements to former members of the Defence Forces as well as funding for Civil Defence and a grant towards the running costs of the Irish Red Cross. This allocation allows the Defence Forces to deliver on all their assigned roles, both at home and overseas, and facilitates investment in essential equipment and infrastructure, as set out in the White Paper on Defence.

Defence expenditure programmes are on-going in nature and no reduction in these programmes is envisaged for 2018. Therefore, no expenditure savings are forecast for my Department in 2018. It should be noted that the final expenditure allocation for 2018 will not be settled until the budgetary process is concluded later in the year.