Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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99. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if media reports that in 2016 it cost the taxpayer €15 million to replace Defence Forces personnel that left were accurate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19817/18]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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100. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the number of members of the Permanent Defence Force in whole-time equivalent terms, that left the service in each of the years 2013 to 2017, for reasons other than retirement; the branch of the service of each; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19818/18]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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101. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the estimated savings that would be made in terms of training and recruitment if the numbers leaving the Permanent Defence Force in 2018 for reasons other than retirement were halved relative to 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19819/18]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 99 to 101, inclusive, together.

Given the unique and demanding nature of military life, there is understandably a relatively high level of turnover among Defence Forces personnel. This is not new and the Permanent Defence Force has always had a level of turnover that far exceeds other areas of the public service. This is a necessary feature of military organisations and allows for continuous renewal, promotions etc.

The table below sets out the numbers leaving for each of the years from 2002 to 2017.

Discharges from the Defence Forces are recorded under a number of headings without a specific definition of retirement which can be either voluntary or involuntary. The headings range from "at their own request", purchase of discharge, end of contract or reaching age limits.

The figure of €15 million reported by the media is an estimate, provided by the military authorities, of the cost of training the same number of personnel as those who left voluntarily in 2016. The majority of the estimated cost is the pay of those individuals being trained and the pay of their training staff. There is significant scope for misinterpretation of such cost estimates and it is not accurate to infer that the level of savings reported by the media would occur within the Vote if this number of personnel did not leave the Defence Forces.

As the long terms trends illustrate, departure rates at half the level of those of 2017 have not occurred in the period since 2002. Accordingly, the Department of Defence has not engaged in an estimate of savings for this eventuality.