Ireland has one Department of Defence civil servant for every 23 soldiers

Recent figures on staffing levels show there are 8,434 soldiers, giving a current ratio of one civil servant for every 23 soldiers.

Ireland has one Department of Defence civil servant for every 23 soldiers – more than seven times the number of civil servants than Sweden and ten times that of Finland.

This, according to a new report, reflects the “all-encompassing” role of the Department of Defence in Ireland in running the Defence Forces, in stark contrast to the structure of other neutral or non-aligned countries in Europe.