asked the Minister for Defence if he will re-introduce the Easter military parade this year in order to boost the morale of the FCA and to aid recruitment to the Permanent Defence Forces; and, if not, why, having regard to his reply to parliamentary question No. 8 of 26 March 1980.

The present operational demands on the Permanent Defence Force preclude the holding of a military parade at Easter this year.

Would the Minister accept that the Easter military parade was a recruiting campaign and a showpiece in which private citizens were very interested? What was the reason for it being dropped?

The holding of the parade would mean the withdrawal of troops from security services in different parts of the country. It would also mean the withdrawal of vehicles for a period of approximately three to four weeks because prior training would be required before the parade could take place. At present we could not afford this withdrawing of the troops.

This is because of the shortage of men about which we were speaking earlier. Would the Minister consider making the FCA available for a parade of that sort?

We have considered that. It would mean intensive training over a period to fulfil that obligation, and members of the FCA are not as readily available for training as serving members of the Defence Forces.