LAST UPDATE | 7 Oct

BOTH POLICING AND military staff groups have criticised the claim in the budget that garda and Defence Forces numbers will increase.   

In his address to the Dáil this afternoon Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers said there would be a net increase of 400 army, navy and Air Corps personnel. 

One defence source said that this would require more than 1000 recruits in the next 12 months. This would be necessary because of the regular retirements and natural resignations of people leaving the forces. 

This has been a constant refrain from representative groups stating that retention of personnel in all services must be stabilised before recruiting. 

He also said that there would be funding for 1,000 extra gardaí. There is also boosts in funding for increases in civilian staff in both security agencies.

The Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (RACO) has warned that an increase in military personnel levels mooted in the budget will be a “major challenge”. 

While the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) has also raised concerns about the lack of measures to retain staff. 

Justice

For Justice there is a €6.17 billion for the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. Chambers said that this will fund a range of measures such as the recruitment of up to 1,000 trainee Gardaí in 2026, an additional 200 civilian staff, further intakes into the Garda Reserve and €19 million to increase the budget for Garda overtime.

There will be an additional €39 million for the Irish Prisons Service, an increase of €11 million for the Courts Service and €6.7 million of additional funding for the Irish Probation Service.

In Justice there are also allocations for domestic and gender based violence initiative and youth justice interventions. 

Defence

In Defence Chambers said Ireland is “committed to safeguarding our national security, while contributing to international peace and stability”.

There is €1.49 billion in funding for the Department of Defence for 2026. Chambers said this represents an 11 per cent increase and will provide for a net increase of 400 Defence Force Members; 50 new civilian posts in Defence, and also an additional 70 civil servants to work in critically important areas, such as cyber security.

Among the non-pay measures Chambers said it will include funding for a new Defence Forces uniform; equipment and maintenance projects; enhanced recruitment advertising; additional funding to progress Maritime Security; digital transformation; and training and healthcare supports for the Defence Forces.

Much of that has been already announced as part of the Defence Detailed Implementation Plan (DIP) for the Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces outlines a major plan to have hugely complex projects completed by 2028. 

There was some dispute in regard to the tendering process for the new military uniform – a court challenge was withdrawn earlier this year.

This investment will also enable progression of ongoing reforms arising from the Commission on the Defence Forces and the Independent Review Group’s recommendations in to allegations of bullying and abuse.

The Minister said that there would be funding for projects such as the continuing effort to find military radar; a modern Software Defined Radio System; roll out of a new general service body armour system for the Defence Forces; the ongoing upgrade of Armoured Personnel Carriers; and further modernisation and renovation of military installations throughout the country.

RACO Statement on Defence Budget 2026: another essential down payment on ‘Level of Ambition 2’ as recommended by the Commission on the DF, but much more is needed to attract and retain sufficient @defenceforces personnel to reach the required strength of 11,500.@IRLDeptDefence pic.twitter.com/DFy1fsQv7w

— RACO (@RACO_DF) October 7, 2025

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A RACO statement said they welcomed the €1.49 Bn defence budget for 2026, which it said was a “necessary increase from €1.35 Bn last year”.

“The Commission on the Defence Forces recommended achieving Level of Ambition (LOA) 2 of €1.5Bn (in 2022 prices, so this would be closer to €2Bn) by 2028. So, it appears that we are on track to meet LOA 2 by 2028 as recommended by the Commission,” the statement said. 

“The major challenge will be reaching the personnel strength of 11500 by 2028.

“We are finally stabilising our personnel numbers at around 7,500 through a range of vital recruitment and retention initiatives but it is critical that these are built on through a significant improvement in cadets pay, better pension arrangements for post 2013 personnel and the promised review of specialist pay,” RACO added. 

Araon Kearney, President of PDFORRA, said that they welcomed the funding but added that they also stress the importance of key human resources measures for rank and file members. 

“While PDFORRA welcomes the additional funds being provided for defence. We would hope that the proposed reforms arising from the commission on defence such as long service increments and the implementation of rank of Lance Corporal would be provided for as a retention measure in order to retain vastly qualified and experienced members of the defence forces.

In regard to garda concerns AGSI General Secretary, Ronan Clogher also welcomed the funding but called out the lack of detail.

“Any additional funding for An Garda Siochana is always welcome and we await with interest details of initiatives to free Gardaí from administrative burdens in order to spend additional time on the core functions of frontline policing.

“We note however that although there is a commitment to fund 1000 new Gardaí there is a lack of detail around any new initiatives to improve recruitment and retention which we have continually identified as an ongoing issue,” he said. 

Ronan Slevin, the Garda Representative Association (GRA) General Secretary said they have been “left disappointed” and “underwhelmed” by the budget. He said the budget has failed to address the issues they have been campaigning for in recent years. 

“Of course there is a dire and urgent need for more garda members but there seems little or no strategy on how these numbers will materialise.

“This is the third successive Budget that has promised 1,000 recruits yet we have seen just over 600 come through Templemore each year which barely covers the losses through retirements and resignations.

“This Budget does nothing to address the issues we have continually raised regarding the garda training allowance which sits more than €200 per week below the minimum wage and fails to tackle the challenges with retention of the members we already have,” he said. 

Slevin said the increase in overtime budgets “simply reaffirms the failures of this and past governments” in relation to garda recruitment numbers.