John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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430. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the current total strength of Air Corps personnel; and if he will provide a breakdown of the numbers of qualified military pilots, cadet pilots in training, qualified military aircraft maintenance technicians, qualified military avionics technicians and military apprentices in training of both aforementioned disciplines. [38990/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the military authorities that the strength of the Air Corps, as at 30 June 2022, is 748 wholetime equivalent personnel.

The table below shows the strength by requested stream.

A Military Aircraft Technician (MAT) is an individual who has qualified from an Air Corps apprenticeship, or a direct entrant deemed to have the appropriate qualifications to work on aircraft in the various maintenance roles. Personnel in these roles cover the broad range of disciplines within the Air Corps e.g. avionics technicians, aircraft mechanics, crew leaders, and aircraft inspectors. 

All MATs are employed in the maintenance of aircraft. At any one time, they may be employed in any of the broad range of maintenance disciplines, be in training, or serving overseas. The total number of qualified MATs is therefore inclusive of those who may be assigned to avionics duties, or any of the other disciplines, at any one time.

As outlined, there is a strong training pipeline for MATs consisting of 47 apprentices. Of these apprentices, all 47 are undergoing their qualification process and will, on successful completion, be streamed into rotary, fixed-wing or avionics technician categories.  The military authorities advise that while there are other schemes conducted under the auspices of the national Generation Apprenticeship Scheme through SOLAS, in addition to other technical training schemes, the Air Corps Aircraft Technician scheme is the only Defence Forces scheme strictly defined as an apprenticeship.

My focus remains on retaining/restoring all branches of the Defence Forces to their full capacity. Furthermore, the work of the Commission on the Defence Forces included, inter alia, consideration of, recruitment and retention matters. I received Government approval on Tuesday, 12^thJuly, to move to Level of Ambition 2, as set out in the capability framework devised by the Commission on the Defence Forces.  Government also approved a High Level Action Plan which sets out the response of Government in relation to each of the 130 recommendations in the Commission's report.