John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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360. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if the allowance paid to serving members of the Defence Forces on duty in the Border counties is considered as pensionable income for retiring members of the Defence Forces; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8717/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I take it the Deputy is referring specifically to allowances paid to serving members who are engaged on security duties in the Border counties.

A specific Border Duty Allowance was introduced in January 1972. It is similar to Security Duty Allowance which is payable to Permanent Defence Force (PDF) personnel engaged on extended security duties in non-border areas. This includes for example, 24-hour duties undertaken in military installations and other locations, responding to Garda requests for explosives ordnance disposal as well as the provision of assistance to civil authorities e.g. flood relief.

Persons in receipt of Border Duty Allowance who perform any of the foregoing duties cannot receive Security Duty Allowance.

Under the established negotiation mechanism – the Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme for the PDF – payment of Border Duty Allowance to serving personnel has been eliminated for all new entrants to the PDF since February 2009. However the allowance continues to be retained on a ‘personal to holder’ basis for those personnel who were in receipt of it on the 3rd February 2009. The allowance is being phased out as current holders retire or leave the PDF.

The rules for the reckoning of pensionable allowances in the calculation of military retirement benefits vary depending on when the person first joined the PDF.

Specifically in relation to Border Duty Allowance, the allowance is only pensionable for enlisted personnel who joined the PDF on or after 1st April 2004 and before 4th February 2009.

In relation to Security Duty Allowance, this is also only pensionable for personnel who joined on or after 1st April 2004.

In accordance with the rules of the pension scheme there are also various criteria that must be complied with for pensionable allowances to be included in the calculation of a member’s retirement benefits.

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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361. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if recruitment is currently open to the Reserve Defence Force; if not, when recruitment will re-open; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8719/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Government remains fully committed to the advancement of the Reserve Defence Force (RDF). The 2015 White Paper on Defence is quite clear that there is a continued requirement to retain and develop the Reserve and this is not in question.

The Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces (CODF), published last February, equally serves to reinforce that commitment and the Report contains many recommendations on the future role and structure of the RDF.

Two recommendations from the report, which have been identified as Early Actions, relate to the RDF, namely the establishment of the Office of Reserve Affairs (ORA), and the development of a Regeneration Plan for the Reserve.

Planning by the military authorities has commenced on establishing the ORA and once this is established, it will be actively involved in implementing the other accepted recommendations of the CoDF.

This process will also take into consideration, of course, the recommendations relating to the structure and strength of the RDF, which include that the future establishment of the RDF should be increased and should include, at a minimum, an Air Force Reserve of 200, and a Navy Reserve of 400.

The Deputy may be aware that a recruitment drive for the RDF was launched in March 2022, which was advertised across a number of media channels while Recruit Liaison Officers across the RDF conducted local recruitment to attract applicants for this campaign.

Over 1000 applications were received during this window, which is very encouraging, and I understand that the majority of those applications are now through the initial assessment stages and are currently moving to the medicals process.

To date, 90 RDF recruits have been inducted into the Defence Forces with further inductions scheduled, and the military authorities have additionally advised me that once the body of work arising from last year's campaign is completed, consideration will be given to the launch of a further recruitment initiative in mid-2023.

I would like to assure the Deputy that it is my intention, and that of the Chief of Staff, to ensure that the momentum behind the regeneration of the RDF will be maintained throughout 2023 and beyond, thereby enabling us, going forward, to create a Reserve Defence Force that can seamlessly train, operate and deploy with the Permanent Defence Force, both nationally and internationally.

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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362. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the current strength of the Permanent Defence Force, by rank, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8720/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As at 31 January 2023, there were 7,959 Permanent Defence Force (PDF) personnel. The following table shows the requested breakdown by rank.

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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363. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the number of females serving in the Permanent Defence Force; the number of same for each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8721/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As at 31 January 2023, the number of female personnel in the Permanent Defence Force was 563.

The table below shows the number of women in the Permanent Defence Force in each of the last 5 years.

The White Paper on Defence contains a number of projects with a view to increasing participation of females in the Defence Forces. Furthermore the High Level Action Plan agreed by Government to implement the recommendations of the Commission on the Defence Forces contains a range of projects designed to assist in achieving the target rate of 35% female participation. An example of this is the early action to appoint a gender advisor at Colonel level in the Defence Forces, which has been accepted in principle and is being progressed.

In line with current policies and commitments, a number of initiatives are already in place with a view to increasing the level of female participation e.g.

- A Gender Equality and Diversity Officer has been appointed to promote gender equality policies and training within the Defence Forces.

- A Defence Forces Women's Network was established with the aim of increasing the participation of female personnel at all levels of the organisation.

In addition, special consideration is paid to women as a target group for recruitment within the general recruitment framework.