asked the Minister for Defence the number of men who enlisted in the Defence Forces over the past ten years and the number whose initial period of service expired in each of those years and the number who failed to re-enlist.

3.

asked the Minister for Defence the number of men who were enlisted in the Defence Forces in each of the past ten years.

4.

asked the Minister for Defence the number of men whose initial period of service expired in each of the past ten years and the number who failed to re-enlist.

With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 2, 3 and 4 together.

As the reply is in the form of a tabular statement, I propose to circulate it in the Official Report.

Following is the statement:

*Column 4 may also include initial engagements but it is not possible without a considerable amount of time and work to identify whether certain 6, 7, 9 or 12 year engagements are initial engagements.

Could the Minister give any indication of what the trend is, particularly in relation to those who have enlisted for a short term?

It would be better for the Deputy to leave the matter until he has seen the figures in the statement.

There are five columns of figures here. If the Deputy wants to put down a further question when he reads them he can do so.

Are there more people in the Defence Forces now than there were three years ago? Surely the Minister should be able to answer that question.

I have not been asked that question.

Are there more people in the Defence Forces now than there were three years ago?

If the Deputy puts down a question I will answer it.

Is the Establishment now less than 15,000? Does the Minister not know how many are in the Defence Forces?

There is not much point in having a tabular statement if the question is going to be teased out in the House.

We have not reached the full number in the Establishment and I do not think it has ever been reached except perhaps during the emergency.

How many have we now?

The strength on 31/12/1979 was 13,372.

Why was the Minister reluctant to give that figure?

I was not reluctant to give it.

The Minister was not as co-operative as the Taoiseach was yesterday.

Could I get some indication from the Minister what the trend is like and the result of the most recent recruitment drive? Is there any indication of what it is like?

The recruitment drive has been satisfactory to date. In so far as the trend is concerned, I would ask the Deputy again to wait until he sees the figures. There are many figures in the reply and after the Deputy has seen them he can ask a further question if he wishes.

I do not ask this question for any political reasons. Is it not correct that it is a cause for concern that quite a substantial number of our troops are not re-enlisting at the end of their term? Has the Minister given any consideration to the causes for this? Has he given any consideration to an improvement in their conditions to encourage them to re-enlist?

I have.

The Minister may reply but it is a separate question.

Perhaps this is the same thing to which Deputy Creed is referring. I am sure the Deputy will accept that the recruitment is higher generally when there is not much civilian employment and it is lower when there is plenty of civilian employment available.

There will be a big difference now.

As Deputy L'Estrange knows, there was a large influx into the Army around 1975 and 1976 mainly because the economic situation was so bad——

Not as bad as it is now.

——and jobs were very difficult to come by. It was quite different in 1978 and 1979 when jobs were relatively easy to come by. I did not want to go into that detail but I have now done so.

I am sorry the Minister has raised this political red herring and in so doing did not reply to my question. I am talking about the re-enlistment of troops at the end of their term, not the recruitment.

These are separate questions.

Could I ask the Minister—

I have ruled that the question is not in order.

Has the Minister given consideration to improving the conditions in the Defence Forces?

This erodes the reason for which a reply is given in the form of a tabular statement.

There are three questions on the Order Paper dealing with this issue.

The three are taken together and there is a tabular statement being circulated.

I have answered the questions very fully.

The Minister has not dealt with the question I asked about improving the conditions in the Defence Forces.

Very considerable improvements have been made in the conditions since this Government came into office.