Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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340. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if he will report on the investment in equipment for the Defence Forces as part of the five-year equipment development plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48138/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My priority as Minister for Defence is to ensure that the operational capability of the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service is maintained and developed. This is to enable the Defence Forces to carry out the roles assigned by Government, as set out in the White Paper on Defence.

In this context, the principal aim over the period of the White Paper is to replace and upgrade, as required, existing capabilities in order to retain a flexible response for a wide range of operational requirements at home and overseas.

Equipment priorities for the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service are being considered as part of the capability development and Equipment Development Planning (EDP) process. A five year Equipment Development Plan for continued re-equipment was developed on a civil military basis and was published in June 2020. The Equipment Planning process recognises the need to maintain and upgrade military capabilities having regard to emerging priorities, operational requirements and changes in technology. This is an ongoing iterative process.

There are a number of defensive equipment acquisition and upgrade projects for which there will be capital expenditure in the coming years. These include the midlife upgrade of the Army's fleet of 80 Mowag Piranha III Armoured Personnel Carrier vehicles which is well underway as well as the completion of the delivery of an additional 30 Armoured Utility Vehicles. In addition, the Army's non-armoured fleet continues to be updated with over 220 vehicles due for delivery in 2022.

In relation to air-based capability, the programme for the supply of two C295 Maritime Patrol Aircraft is well underway with delivery of the aircraft expected in 2023. Alongside the recently acquired PC-12 aircraft some €276 million, including VAT, has been committed to the acquisition of all of these enhanced capabilities.

The Naval Service Vessel Renewal and Replacement Programme is ongoing and the programme includes radar and other equipment upgrades along with the replacement of Naval Service Reserve motor launches. The programme of works for the midlife refit and upgrade of LÉ Róisín has been completed, while works are ongoing on LÉ Niamh. Marine Advisors have been appointed to support the procurement of multi-role vessel to replace the flagship, LÉ Eithne, with work underway that will inform a public tender competition in due course. Two Inshore Patrol Vessels have been purchased from the New Zealand Government to replace LÉ Orla and LÉ Ciara and it is expected these vessels will be transported to Ireland in 2023 following the completion of a programme of works.

The Department of Defence has received a capital allocation under the national development plan of €566 million over the 2022 to 2025 timeframe. The Defence annual capital budget for 2022 is €141 million, with an increased allocation of €176 million for 2023. This is following Government approval for a move over a six-year period to a level of Defence Forces’ capability equivalent to ‘Level of Ambition 2’ (LOA2), as set out in the capability framework devised by the Commission on Defence Forces, which will entail funding increases to reach a Defence budget of approximately €1.5 billion (at January 2022 prices) by 2028 through the annual Estimates. This level of capital funding will allow the Defence Organisation to undertake a programme of sustained equipment replacement and infrastructural development across the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service as identified and prioritised in the Defence White Paper and the Report of the Commission, while building on the significant investment programme over recent years.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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341. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if refurbishment works have commenced at a building (details supplied) at Renmore Barracks. [48234/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I am pleased to advise the Deputy that works on this major refurbishment building project at the USAC, accommodation block in Renmore Barracks have commenced.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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342. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the amount that has been spent on the refurbishment of Custume Barracks, Athlone in each of the years 2020, 2021 and to date in 2022; and the nature of works that were carried out in each of the years in tabular form. [48235/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Defence Forces Infrastructure Development Plan (IDP) in 2020 sets out a programme of anticipated project delivery based on requirements identified from a survey of all DF installations and on the achievement of the high-level goals set out in White Paper 2015.

The Deputy may wish to note, as advised by the military authorities, that the following maintenance and refurbishment works were undertaken on a devolved basis at Custume Barracks for the 2020- 2022 period.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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343. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the amount that the Defence Forces spent on purchasing chemical biological, radiological and nuclear suits for the Permanent Defence Forces in 2021 and to date in 2022, in tabular form. [48236/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Under the Framework for Major Emergency Management the Defence Forces can be tasked in aid of Civil Power to provide operational support in a response to a national chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) incident in order to mark, cordon, monitor, measure, decontaminate, retrieve and dispose of any CBRN devices and matter so found. Additionally, the Defence Forces in the context of overseas deployments may be required to operate in CBRN environments.

As outlined in PQ 7135/22 there was no direct expenditure in 2021 on CBRN suits. The table of expenditure as set out below for 2021 in the sum of €44,250.60 has been spent on essential CBRN platforms and ancillaries during that period in order to maintain CBRN capability. The expenditure covers such items as consumables, filters, spare parts, decontamination lotion and servicing necessary to maintain ongoing CBRN platforms. The figure for 2022 amounts to €120,614.20 which provides for the sum of €23,419.20 for suits and €97,195.00 for testing of suits with a view to the identification of an effective solution for the replenishment of the entire Defence Forces CBRN stock of suits.

Specific details of the essential CBRN platforms and ancillaries are subject to normal operational security reporting restrictions and are not disclosed for operational security reasons.

Table 1 – CBRN Support Expenditure

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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344. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the number of former serving members of the Defence Forces who are in receipt of a pension from the organisation; if he will provide a breakdown of the numbers for the past three years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48445/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Essentially there are two types of pension which can be payable to former members of the Defence Forces; a service (retirement) pension and/or a disablement pension.

Some pensioners are in receipt of a service pension only, some are in receipt of both a service pension and a disablement pension, and some are in receipt of a disablement pension only.

A breakdown showing the numbers of former members of Defence Forces currently in receipt of such pensions from my Department, as well as over the past three years (2019 to 2021) is provided in the table below.

These figures do not include pensions payable to spouses and dependants.

Numbers of former DF members in receipt of pension