Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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243. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if he will confirm that in the new Defence Forces structure that emerges as a result of the recommendations set out in the Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces that Collins Barracks, Cork will be the location of the headquarters of the military formation that will control military operations in the southern region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52522/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Commission on the Defence Forces was established on foot of a commitment in the Programme for Government, and I, as Minister for Defence, welcomed the publication of the report of the Commission on 9th February last.  The Commission undertook a significant body of work, encompassing wide-ranging terms of reference.  It recommended significant changes for the Defence Forces and Defence provision in Ireland. It covers high level Defence Forces structures, defence capabilities, organisation, culture and human resources, the Reserve Defence Force and funding.

 On the 12th of July this year I brought to Government a High Level Action Plan and a Memo for Government both of which were approved.  As part of this, Government approved 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, which will entail funding increases to reach a defence budget of c. €1.5 billion (at January 2022 prices) by 2028 through the annual Estimates process.

A civil/military Implementation Management Office (IMO) has been established to support the implementation of the overall transformation programme required to implement recommendations from the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces.

The High Level Action Plan also sets out all the recommendations contained within the report and designates a response of Accept, Accept in Principal, Further Evaluation or Revert. There are a number of recommendations contained in the report which may impact on the structure of the Defence Forces including that the structure of the Army be reviewed and, in that context, the disposition of Units across the Defence Forces may be considered.  As the Deputy will appreciate, it would be inappropriate for me to engage in speculative discussion on this matter prior to completion of the ongoing process.