Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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48. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if the contract to supply new motorcycles for the Defence Forces escort of honour has been put to tender; and when he expects the new motorcycles to come into the fleet. [43869/19]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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My priority as Minister with Responsibility for Defence is to ensure that the operational capability of the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service is maintained to the greatest extent possible so as to enable the Defence Forces to carry out their roles as assigned by Government both at home and overseas.

The acquisition of new equipment for the Defence Forces remains a clear focus for me. Future equipment priorities for the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service are considered in the context of the White Paper on Defence as part of the capability development and equipment priorities planning process.  The principal aim over the period of the White Paper will be to replace and upgrade, as required, existing capabilities in order to retain a flexible response for a wide range of operational requirements.

The Defence Forces fleet of vehicles is subject to regular review to ensure that it meets operational requirements both at home and overseas. In this regard a requirement for the replacement of Defence Forces Escort of Honour Motorcycles was identified due to the current fleet reaching end of life.

A tender was published on OJEU through eTenders on 14 June 2019, and following completion of the tender evaluation process a contract was awarded to Honda Distributors Ireland on the 27 September 2019. The contract value is for €380,000 ex VAT for the delivery of 48 motorcycles. The Defence Forces expect to take delivery of the vehicles in Q4 2019.