Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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44. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the estimated full year cost of increasing the number of personnel in the Reserve Defence Forces to 4,500; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52546/18]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The White Paper on Defence sets out a developmental path for the Reserve Defence Forces (RDF). It provides for an overall establishment of the Army Reserve and Naval Service Reserve of 4,169 personnel, which will be achieved by increasing the Naval Service Reserve establishment from 200 to 300 personnel. Currently, the establishment for the RDF is set at 4,069 personnel.

Providing for numbers beyond the current establishment would require consideration of the capability requirements underpinning such an increase and an assessment of the associated cost implications which, as with the PDF, would include personnel and equipment costs.  The Department does not retain such costings.