The Minister for Defence, Willie O'Dea, has said the Government is going ahead with the replacement of the army's air fleet and will be pouring money into the replacement of military equipment.
Mr O'Dea's comments in an address to the annual delegate conference of the representative group, PDFORRA, in Athlone, Co Westmeath, came after earlier criticism from the group over expenditure on defence.
Mr O'Dea said the Government is committed to heavy investment in the defence forces and will continue with its policy of selling property and assets and investing that money in the army.
The minister denied PDFORRA's assertion that morale in the army is being affected by the continued use of old equipment and old aircraft.
Speaking earlier at the conference, PDFORRA's Deputy General Secretary, Simon Devereux, said he was concerned that the defence spend as related to Gross National Product had halved in the past ten years.
'It has fallen from 1.3% to just 0.7% and the members of the defence forces are deeply worried that this level of investment will have a direct effect on our future capabilities,' Mr Devereux said.
Mr Devereux said this level of expenditure on defence leaves the Irish Government at the very bottom of the EU defence spend league table and in a very poor position to fulfil our commitments as part of the EU battle groups.
