Defence Forces

Wednesday, 1 June 2022

Questions (144)

David Stanton

Question:

144. Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Defence further to Parliamentary Question No. 25 of 12 May 2022, if he will outline the cost of the Defence Forces aptitude tests for each year from 2016 to 2021, inclusive; the number of tests that were administered each year; the number of applicants that failed to pass the tests in each of these years respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28507/22]

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Written answers

Minister for Defence

I am advised by the military authorities that it has not been possible to gather the required information within the time allotted. I will revert to the Deputy when the information has been gathered.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51

I refer to the above-referenced Parliamentary Question and my original reply stating that it was not possible to provide the required information within the timeframe available.

The military authorities have now provided the following details:

1. Cost of Defence Forces’ aptitude/psychometric tests, for each year from 2016 to 2021:


	Year		Cost
	2016		€27,669
	2017		€16,776
	2018		€22,979
	2019		€23,980
	2020		€24,182
	2021		€24,306

2. The number of tests administered and the number of applicants that failed, in each of the years 2016 to 2021:


	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Test Administered	6,945	6,484	4,269	6,421	5,281	4,408
Completed Tests Failed	3,739	2,288	1,306	844	1,701	2,278

Psychometric tests are difficult to corrupt and therefore provide a level of transparency to the recruitment process. The psychometric tests in use by the Defence Forces are in line with best practise and other militaries use such testing in a similar manner in their selection processes.