Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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78. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence his plans to reconsider the barracks infrastructure of the Defence Forces; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52758/19]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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As I have outlined on a number of occasions, there are no plans to make any changes to the barracks infrastructure of the Defence Forces. The White Paper on Defence, published in 2015, comprehensively deals with all aspects of defence policy and was informed by a wide ranging consultation process, and it makes no provision for any changes to the current barracks infrastructure.

I am satisfied that the current structures have contributed to an improvement in the deployability and sustainability of the Defence Forces, both at home and overseas. The current structures optimise the capacity of the Defence Forces to continue to fulfil the roles assigned to it by Government, and as such, there are no plans to reconsider the barracks infrastructure.

Furthermore, and as outlined in the White Paper Update which I published last week, there have been very important modernisation projects completed in the last few years and many are ongoing, all contributing to capability. However, the Government acknowledges that there is continuing potential for additional investment in military facilities and, with this in mind, a focused five year infrastructure programme will be launched in January 2020. This will provide the means to channel available funds to where these will have the strongest impact.