Defence | Defence Forces management report

To ask the Minister for Defence the extent to which precise action has been taken, is due to be taken or is ongoing in respect of each branch of the Defence Forces, Army, Naval Services and Air Corps with a view to the early implantation of the report on the future of the Defence Forces; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

To ask the Minister for Defence the extent to which steps are ongoing to progress the recently published report on the future of the Defence Forces with particular reference to the Army, Naval Service and Air Corps; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

To ask the Minister for Defence the steps that are being taken to date towards the implementation of the Review of the Defence Forces; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

REPLY
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 has undertaken a significant body of work, encompassing wide-ranging terms of reference.  It recommends 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.

Given the significant recommendations contained in the Report, detailed consideration of these recommendations was undertaken over a period of 5 months by my Department and the Defence Forces.  This involved significant inter-departmental consultation, and I and my officials have engaged with key stakeholders to ascertain their views. Following this engagement, I returned to Government with a High Level Action Plan and a Memo for Government which were approved on July 12^th of this year. 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.

The High Level Action Plan set out proposed implementation and oversight structures, and the Implementation Oversight Group met for the first time on the 3^rd of October. 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 initial focus of the IMO is the implementation of the 38 early actions as set out in the High Level Action Plan and the development of an Implementation Plan. Reporting mechanisms have been established to facilitate regular progress reports on the early actions to the IMO and the civil/military Strategic Management Committee.