Limerick’s army numbers to get a welcome boost

LIMERICK is due to see an influx of army personnel on foot of a major recruitment drive, the first phase of which closed this week. Limerick and Cork will share around 120 new personnel, once interviewing and training have finished. The army press officer has confirmed that the application process for the 600 jobs in the army and navy closed this week and there were 10,500 applications to sign up, It has also been confirmed to the Limerick Post that 1,812 of those applications were for the Southern Brigade, which covers Limerick and Cork.

There are 480 posts reserved for army personnel and these will be shared out across the country, depending on how many vacant positions are to be filled in the various brigades.120 of these are likely to be shared between Limerick and Cork,
It has not yet been confirmed whether interviews and training will be held in Limerick or in Dublin but according to an army press spokesman there will be a fresh system of deploying the newly-trained recruits.
“Recruits will no longer necessarily be sent to the barracks they have requested. They will be interviewed and trained at locations to be decided and then they will be deployed where they are needed.”
Last month, Minister Alan Shatter announced the new recruitment drive.
The filling of empty posts in the Defence Forces is being funded partly from the proceeds of the sale of a number of properties in the military portfolio.