James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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117. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the extent to which the defence budget was underspent in 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3822/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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For 2021, the total allocation provided to the Defence Sector was €1,072 million, comprising some €262 million for Vote 35 (Army Pensions) and €810 million for Vote 36 (Defence). The provisional end of year figures indicate that there was an overall Defence Sector gross underspend of over €25 million in 2021, approximately 2% of the Defence Sector allocation.

Expenditure under the Army Pensions Vote is essentially demand-driven and non-discretionary and a gross underspend of over €2 million occurred in 2021. This underspend arose mainly due to less personnel exiting the Defence Forces than was originally estimated.

The provisional outturn for the Defence Vote indicates a gross underspend of €23 million for 2021. This has arisen mainly due to pay savings as the Defence Vote is funded on an annual basis for a target strength of 9,500 Permanent Defence Force (PDF) personnel, whereas the actual strength is somewhat below that figure.

In previous years, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, such pay savings were reallocated to address spending pressures elsewhere in the Defence Vote subheads and across the Defence Sector Votes. However in 2021, similar to many other Public Service organisations, the impact of COVID-19 and supply chain difficulties has limited the extent to which my Department was able to re-direct these savings.

Notwithstanding these difficulties, there was significant capital spending of some €129 million in 2021 on the ongoing upgrade and replacement of essential military equipment and the development of the Defence Forces built infrastructure. This level of expenditure, despite significant Covid 19 and other supply chain challenges, highlights my commitment to ensuring the Defence Forces have the capabilities necessary to enable them to fulfil all roles assigned by Government, both at home and overseas. Additionally, for 2022, the provision of the significant funding allocation of over €1.1 billion emphasises this Government ongoing commitment to the Defence Sector.

The Deputy will be aware that the Government established an independent Commission on the Defence Forces in December 2020. The Commission are finalising their work with a view to completing their Report as soon as possible. The Commission's Report, when submitted, will be fully considered at that point.