2025-12-16

91. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Defence the number of Defence Forces personnel required under level of ambition 2; the current establishment figure; and the current number within each service. [71896/25]

I would appreciate it if the Minister would inform the Dáil of the current numbers of personnel within each service of the Defence Forces, the current establishment figure and the number that will be required to meet level of ambition 2 under the commission on the future of the Defence Forces.

I thank the Deputy. As of 31 October 2025, the strength of the Permanent Defence Force stood at 7,760 personnel, consisting of 6,237 Army, 739 Air Corps and 784 Naval Service personnel, as well as over 400 civilian members. On foot of the recommendations from the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces, the Government approved a move, over a six-year period, to a level of Permanent Defence Force capability equivalent to level of ambition 2. This will require an additional 2,000 personnel, including a civilian component, beyond the 9,500 establishment figure that was set at the time of the commission's report. The establishment figure for the Permanent Defence Force has increased incrementally since 2022 to 9,739 to facilitate the implementation of the recommendations of the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. Working towards the achievement of level of ambition 2, budget 2026 provided a record allocation of €1.49 billion for the defence sector, an increase of €145 million on the previous year. These funds include provision for the recruitment of a net 400 additional Permanent Defence Force members per annum. In order to meet Government targets, the Defence Forces are making concerted efforts to ramp up recruitment. Increased training capacity is being progressed. I recently visited the Joint Induction Training Centre which has been established in Gormanston camp in my constituency in Meath and provides initial training to recruits from all three branches of the Defence Forces. There is a huge amount of investment going into the accommodation, the gym area and the canteen to ensure we can increase the number of personnel who can go through Gormanston camp and be trained. The Defence Forces advise that when fully operational, the centre will facilitate the training of up to 900 recruits per annum. Last year saw a stabilisation in numbers with 708 inductions to the Permanent Defence Force and the military authorities have advised that they are targeting over 750 inductions for 2025, which is expected to result in an increase in the total strength of the Permanent Defence Force. There continues, thankfully, to be very strong interest in a career in the Defence Forces.

We use the term "level of ambition" about the future of the Defence Forces. However, the level of ambition from the Government is absolutely pathetic considering where we are starting from and the situation we have as a result of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael mismanagement. In December 2019, just prior to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael coming together in the previous Government, the number of personnel in the Defence Forces was 8,700. We are supposed to celebrate that numbers are now a little over 7,700. There are 1,000 fewer personnel. This is at a time when the Government is planning to abandon the triple lock to send our Defence Forces to places it will not yet stipulate. The Minister tells us that we will have 750 inductions at best this year. Perhaps she could inform the Dáil how many discharges she expects within the Defence Forces this year because on average, it is approximately 750. Is she telling us that at the end of this year, we are effectively going to have no increase in the numbers of personnel in the Defence Forces?

We all agree that more needs to be done and I do not think the Government is saying anything to the contrary. It is clear that there continues to be a very strong interest in a career in the Defence Forces with further growth this year. Let us look at the figures. A total of 14,879 applications have been received this year, up to the end of October. The most important thing that I need to focus on now is making sure that as many of those as possible get into training and that we retain as many of them as possible. We have introduced a range of key enabling measures to support and drive Defence Forces recruitment and retention, working closely with the Defence Forces. These include increases in the maximum ages of recruitment and retirement, the extension of private secondary healthcare to all personnel and the application of the provisions of the working time directive across the Defence Forces, subject to certain exemptions. The patrol duty allowance payable to Naval Service personnel at sea has been doubled after ten days at sea in a calendar year, while the Naval Service tax credit has been extended for a further five years. There has also been significant progress on pay with all personnel benefiting from a further pay award made in August of this year. Money has been provided through the capital budget. Significant work has already been done to try to ensure that the terms and conditions are improving for our members. There is a plan that has been worked through with the Defence Forces and my Department to set out exactly how we are going to achieve those targets. It is not going to be straightforward or easy. I accept that. I am absolutely committed to doing everything I can.

The difficulty is that the Minister's speech reflects, virtually verbatim, what we heard this time last year from the then Minister. There is no issue with applications or expressions of interest. We have seen that time and again. People are interested in the prospect of joining the Defence Forces. The difficulty is bringing them to the point when they are inducted and ensuring they are retained within the Defence Forces. Across the board, the Government does not have the ambition at the start or the policies at the end. The difficulty is that the members of the Defence Forces have been telling us all, and specifically the Government, the measures that are required to actually address the retention and recruitment crisis we have been facing. Has the Minister met with the Defence Forces' representative organisations? As a result of those meetings, if they took place, are there any new measures that the Minister now plans to bring forward?

While the measures have not changed, what has changed is that the numbers are increasing. I appreciate that might not be at the rate or in the numbers we all want, but numbers have now stabilised and are moving in the right direction. My intention and ambition are to work directly with the Defence Forces to ensure they have the right structure and the capacity and ability to increase the number of recruits. We will see an increase in the numbers of men and women we can train in Gormanston. I have not yet met the representative organisations but I have made it clear that I will meet all of them in the new year. I have met them in various contexts and I will sit down with them in the new year. I know that my Department has worked closely and has had very good relationships with the representative organisations. A lot of progress has been made, much of which has come directly from the Defence Forces. I was looking recently at what has happened in the past number of years and much of it has been at the request of the representative organisations. When I meet them, I will, of course, be engaging on the concerns and issues they have and their potential requests. It is important that we bed down the work being done at the moment and make sure that the changes taking place have time to bed into the system so we can start to see those numbers increase.