Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 February 2026
218. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Defence the number of recruits discharged by purchase in each of the years 2020 to 2025; the average length of service at exit for such personnel; and the estimated financial impact on the Defence Vote arising from voluntary early departures within two years of induction [13752/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraIncreasing recruitment and retention of personnel in the Defence Forces is a key priority for me as Minister for Defence. As a government, we are committed to putting the resources in place to achieve Level of Ambition 2 and a crucial element of this is personnel expansion. A range of measures have been undertaken to tackle recruitment and retention challenges in the Defence Forces over the last number of years. As a result, we have seen a stabilisation in strength in the Defence Forces in 2024 and a modest increase in 2025. This demonstrates that the key enabling measures which the Government has introduced to support and drive Defence Forces recruitment are yielding results.
I include in the tables below information supplied by the military authorities on the number of recruits who discharged by purchase and the average length of service for each year from 2020 to 2025:
|
Year |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
2026* |
|
No. of Recruits who discharged by purchase |
150 |
160 |
131 |
90 |
123 |
157 |
26 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Year |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
2026* |
|
Average Time in Service (Days) of Recruits who discharged by purchase |
64.82 |
46.68 |
51.69 |
44.24 |
53.19 |
61.82 |
84.42 |
*As of 31 January 2026
Turnover rates in the Defence Forces are carefully monitored, and I am pleased to say that last year saw a significant reduction in the turnover rate from an average of 10% in the years up to and including 2024 to 7.6% in 2025. A total of 583 personnel discharged from the Defence Forces in 2025 which represents a drop of 13% on the total for 2024. The overall strength of the PDF grew by almost 200 personnel in 2025.
It is also very positive to see that interest in a career in the Defence Forces continues to grow, with a total of 16,510 applications received in 2025. The challenge now for the Defence Forces is to convert those applications into inductions. The Defence Forces are currently formulating a Strategic Workforce Plan to set out current personnel and skill sets and to map out proposals for the achievement of a strength of 11,500. I want to build on the progress achieved in 2025 and have set a target of 850 inductions for 2026.
Government has introduced a range of key enabling measures to support and drive recruitment and retention. Notable among these are increases in the maximum ages of recruitment and retirement; the extension of private secondary healthcare to all personnel; the application of the provisions of the Working Time Directive across the Defence Forces subject to certain exemptions; increases to Patrol Duty allowance payable to Naval Service personnel at sea, and extension of the Naval Service tax credit to 2029.
There continues to be significant progress on pay with all personnel benefiting from a pay award delivered earlier this month with a further increase due in June.
Underpinning these and other measures, I ensured that Budget 2026 provided a record allocation of €1.49 billion for the Defence Sector, an increase of €145 million on 2025. These funds include provision for the recruitment of a net 400 additional PDF members per annum.
While recruitment and retention remains challenging, significant strides continue to be made on a number of fronts and the allocation of record levels of expenditure is illustrative of my commitment to increase recruitment and improve retention in the Defence Forces.
