Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)
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38. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence his views on the matter of entry level cadet pay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60437/25]

Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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41. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence his plans to increase officer cadet pay above the minimum wage, and to a level of at least that of all other inductees in the Defence Forces; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60384/25]

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)
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56. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if the Government will commit to increasing pay for defence force cadets, who are currently paid below minimum wage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60492/25]

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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62. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if his Department will take action to ensure Defence Forces cadets are in receipt of minimum wage during their training, and paid wages that are commensurate with privates of the same level of experience; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60398/25]

Catherine Callaghan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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75. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence his plans to increase cadet pay above minimum wage, and to at least that of all other trainees in the Defence Forces; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59617/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 38, 41, 56, 62 and 75 together.

I thank the Deputies for raising this matter.

As the Deputies are aware there has been significant progress made in terms of pay and conditions for the Defence Forces personnel, particularly over the last six years.

The starting pay of a school leaver cadet, on commissioning, was €30,884 in 2019. As of 01 August 2025 a school leaver Cadet, on commissioning to 2nd Lieutenant, is paid over €45,700, an increase of 49%, or over €14,900, in the past six years.

After 2 years at the rank, they are promoted to lieutenant and their pay rises to above €51,000.

Where a graduate joins – the pay rate on commissioning begins at over €51,000. These rates all include pensionable military service allowance.

In May 2019 a newly qualified three-star private could have expected to earn €27,759 gross per annum on completion of their initial training. That has now increased to €41,880 per annum.

As the Deputy is aware, different pay scales also apply during the training period for both cadets and recruits. But the matter of Cadet pay has been raised with me as an issue and I have committed at the recent RACO ADC that we will give further consideration to this matter and I have asked military management and my own department to engage in a constructive way the and subsequently with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on the issue. There are a number of avenues through which these issues of pay can be considered and as I have stated previously, I’m happy to engage constructively on this.

Interest in a career in the Defence Forces continues to grow strongly. There was a total of 13, 348 applicants for entry into the Permanent Defence Forces in 2024, of which 1795 were for the Cadets.