Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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913. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the last occasion on which a Department-wide review of all funding within his Department took place; the frequency of such reviews; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40631/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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All Defence funding requirements are reviewed annually in the context of the Government budgetary process, with spending requirements and priorities informed by the 2015 White Paper on Defence and supported by internal equipment and infrastructural planning frameworks.

My priority as Minister for Defence is to ensure that the operational capability of the Defence Forces is maintained to the greatest possible extent. As part of this ongoing process, I ensure that resources available to the Defence Forces to undertake their operational commitments are kept under constant review.

For 2021, the total allocation provided for the Defence Sector was €1,072.4 million, including €809.8 million for Vote 36 (Defence), and €262.6 million for Vote 35 (Army Pensions), an overall increase of over €32 million on 2020. This significant allocation ensures that adequate funding is available to the Defence Organisation to carry out all assigned roles, both at home and overseas, and to continue to deliver on White Paper commitments.