Any news on the budget!

[Banner]

I heard Minister Donahue saying there was an increase in funding for defence but no mention of numbers. Anyone able to provide clarity?

[DeV]

Extra €7m in Current Expenditure (which broadly covers pay & pension)
Extra €3m in Capital Expenditure (equipment, buildings, capital maintenance and ICT)

[DeV]

The full breakdown by subhead should be available later today

[morpheus]

F****** joke

[Sparky42]

Extra €7m in Current Expenditure (which broadly covers pay & pension)
Extra €3m in Capital Expenditure (equipment, buildings, capital maintenance and ICT)

So Feck all in reality.

[Banner]

Extra €7m in Current Expenditure (which broadly covers pay & pension)
Extra €3m in Capital Expenditure (equipment, buildings, capital maintenance and ICT)

Jaysus that's paltry! How will Naval and Aer Corps fleet replacement progress with no budget allocation? And that's before "crazy" stuff like Scorpion replacement, more helicopters and anything else that's badly needed gets tackled.

Even forgetting about Capital expenditure for a while the least I would have expected would have been a huge staff retention package across all three branches to address the current brain drain and staff shortages.

Very dissapointing

[expat01]

The total current expenditure allocated for 2018 and projected to 2020 is €869 million, I imagine that is a figure meant to be adjusted for inflation/budget figure and, politics being what they are for a minority government, we can only take 2018 as certain. So % spend of budget remains unchanged at 1.4% (of the budget, not of GDP).
Capital expenditure on top of that is allocated as €77 million for 2018, €106 million in 2019 and €113 million in 2020.

It seems that they are hedging that the Defence Forces can just muddle through until debt reduction gives financial space?
The question is what kind of Defence Forces will remain by the time a future government thinks it can afford to raise the Defence budget to at least 1% of GDP.

Whatever happens, I suspect the Defence Forces need not bother looking for any significant change until 2021 or after. Brexit and the gods of economy permitting.

[DeV]

http://www.defence.ie/WebSite.nsf/Re...5?OpenDocument

Process for CASA replacement and MRV (Eithne replacement) to commence in 2018

[terrier]

http://www.defence.ie/WebSite.nsf/Re...5?OpenDocument

Process for CASA replacement and MRV (Eithne replacement) to commence in 2018

Any date on that ?

[expat01]

thumbsuck: no reason a CASA replacement won't be finalised in 2018, but I imagine the MRV will be signed off in 2019.
Question: does the 68 million for OPV4 come out of 2018 or is it already spent?

[na grohmití]

thumbsuck: no reason a CASA replacement won't be finalised in 2018, but I imagine the MRV will be signed off in 2019.
Question: does the 68 million for OPV4 come out of 2018 or is it already spent?

It was paid for in stages.

[DeV]

Any date on that ?

id imagine around 2020

[Sparky42]

id imagine around 2020

Do you mean the decision on what gets picked or when the start of the build? If the process starts in 2018, how soon before we'd start seeing some info on proposed specs?

[na grohmití]

Very soon. The process in reality started long ago.

[DeV]

Do you mean the decision on what gets picked or when the start of the build? If the process starts in 2018, how soon before we'd start seeing some info on proposed specs?

It will probably go to tender 2019 I'd say

[terrier]

id imagine around 2020

Sorry. I meant the press release. Was it today ?

[Sparky42]

Sorry. I meant the press release. Was it today ?

Given it had the Budget details I'd go with yes.

[DeV]

Sorry. I meant the press release. Was it today ?

yes
M

[DeV]

Already announced additional €98m in capital expenditure over the next 4 years

http://budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2018/Do...tal%20Plan.pdf

MOWAG MLU
NS fleet replacement programme
Mid lift refit of Niamh & Roisin
Cessna replacements
CASA replacements
Barracks infrastructure
Additional force protection

[Graylion]

how on earth is that supposed to buy all of the above?

[Sparky42]

how on earth is that supposed to buy all of the above?

Well aren't the MOWAG MLU and Cessna replacements already in the pipeline? But yeah still don't see how the MRV fits into the budget.

[DeV]

how on earth is that supposed to buy all of the above?

It's an additional allocation!

It isn't €98m

In 2017, the capital estimates for the Defence Vote was €74m.

This is a 4 year increase in capital expenditure, therefore it is (€74m x 4) + €98m = €394m over 4 years

AFAIK some of the MOWAG MLUs have already taken place so some of that was probably already came out of 2017 estimates, same probably for the Cessna replacements. The fleet replacement programme sees each vessel paid for over 3+ years.

Force protection is possibly the odd armoured truck, JCB etc purchased here and there

[Tempest]

Force protection is possibly the odd armoured truck, JCB etc purchased here and there

I would have been hoping that Extra Force Protection might refer to an AML90/Scorpion replacement. Has there been any concrete developments in getting a replacement 'Big gun on wheels/tracks' ?

[DeV]

I would have been hoping that Extra Force Protection might refer to an AML90/Scorpion replacement. Has there been any concrete developments in getting a replacement 'Big gun on wheels/tracks' ?

"Armoured logistics vehicles for overseas missions are a further force protection requirement and a small number of these will be procured." WP 2015

[Truck Driver]

So Feck all in reality.

I agree. That would hardly cover pay increases alone, would it?