164. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Defence the way in which her claim that Irish defence spending has increased by 43% over the last two years was calculated; and if she can provide the figures to the House. [64796/26]

As part of Ireland's hosting of the Presidency of the European Council, I recently hosted a very positive meeting of EU Defence Ministers in County Wicklow. During the course of this meeting, I referenced an increase in Defence funding of 43% over the last number of years. This reference relates to the increase in Defence Vote Group funding from an allocation of €1.040 billion in 2020 to €1.492 billion in 2026, an increase of €452 million (43%) over this period.

The 2020 Programme for Government committed to a programme of defence transformation, a commitment which ultimately led to the establishment of the Commission on the Defence Forces (CoDF). The Commission's report, published in February 2022, recommended significant changes to Defence Forces capabilities, structures, staffing and funding. In July 2022, the Government subsequently published a High-Level Action Plan (HLAP) and approved a decision to move to Level of Ambition 2 (LOA 2), as outlined in the CoDF Report. This framework provided for a rise in the Defence budget to €1.5 billion, in 2022 prices, by 2028, as part of the annual Estimates process.

The increases delivered to date and referenced above highlight the Government's continued commitment to Defence and have enabled the delivery of significantly enhanced military capabilities to support our Defence Forces personnel over recent years. It is my intention to build on this positive momentum as part of ongoing budgetary discussions over the coming weeks.