263. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Defence to provide the number of applications received, the number of applicants accepted/invited to training and the number of applicants inducted post-trainings, for each of the past five general enlisted and cadetships recruitment competitions across the different defence forces branches, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62559/26]

The Military Authorities advise that the strength of the Permanent Defence Force (PDF) stood at 7,774 personnel on the 31 July 2026, the latest date for which this figure is available.

They have, in addition, provided information pertaining to applications and inductions, as requested by the Deputy, in the following table:

It should be noted that comparison of the number of inductions within a calendar year against the number of persons who have completed or not completed training within the same calendar year does not provide an accurate indication of the attrition rate from induction to the completion of training. Factors that impact this include the date(s) of induction and the duration of training, both of which may cause the training period to traverse one or more years depending on the induction method of candidates (General Service Recruitment or Cadetship). For example, a recruit who enlisted in November 2025 will be recorded as an induction for that year but will likely be recorded as having completed training in 2026.

Last year saw a growth in the overall strength of nearly 200, with a total of 790 inductions achieved- the highest in twenty years - while the number of personnel who discharged was at its lowest level in more than five years. Inductions to the Permanent Defence Force achieved to the end of July of this year number 414 with the Defence Forces advising that they are targeting 800 inductions at a minimum by year end.

Interest in a career in the Defence Forces remains robust with a total of 16,510 applications received for all competitions in 2025 and over 13,000 applications received to end July 2026. The challenge for the Defence Forces is to convert this high level of applications to inductions.

Increases in application numbers and in the overall strength of the PDF, over the last three years, demonstrate that the key enabling measures which the Government has introduced to support and drive Defence Forces recruitment and retention are yielding results. These measures include: significant progress on pay; increases in the maximum ages of recruitment and retirement respectively; 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, and increases in patrol duty allowance.

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.

Significant strides continue to be made on a number of fronts and the allocation of record levels of expenditure, coupled with the initiatives I have outlined here, is illustrative of my commitment to building on the growth in recruitment and the stabilisation in retention achieved in recent years.