Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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107. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the estimated cost in 2019 of recruiting an extra 1,200 personnel into the Permanent Defence Force; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37832/18]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The White Paper on Defence (2015) sets out Government policy on Defence for the next decade. It commits to retaining flexible and adaptable defence capabilities for a broad range of scenarios and sets out capability requirements including personnel and equipment in this regard. In this context, it is important that an appropriate balance is maintained between personnel costs and equipment investment.

In December 2011, the Government decided to stabilise the strength ceiling of the Permanent Defence Force (PDF) at 9,500 personnel. The Defence Budget provides sufficient resources for the full strength of 9,500 personnel and every effort is being made to reach this strength and there are no plans to exceed this figure.

As the Deputy will appreciate, developing a realistic costing on increasing the establishment to 10,700, is not simply a straight-line calculation. Achieving and sustaining such an increase would happen over a phased basis and would require the inclusion of other expenditure issues such as the training and accommodation infrastructures for such a larger force, along with training staffs etc., additional equipment, and potentially additional organisational and command structures. In addition, the issue of where such an increase in personnel was to be applied – e.g. Air Corps, Naval Service, Army or specialist corps – would have significant implications in terms of any cost calculation.