There will be no further cuts in the military for at least 10 years, under the terms of the agreement worked out between the Government and the Chief of Staff, Lieut Gen David Stapleton, it was learned last evening.
The agreement was committed to writing yesterday after what were reported to have been last-minute difficulties over the text of a document submitted to Government yesterday morning by the Department of Defence.
According to sources close to the negotiations yesterday, the document submitted by the Department did not contain some key terms which the military side had understood to have been agreed on Wednesday, when the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, said agreement had been reached.
Sources said that the document initially forwarded by the Department was withdrawn and another document containing the agreement, as understood by the military, was forwarded to the Government secretariat.
The Department of Defence said yesterday evening that there had been no reneging on the terms.
However, it is known there were considerable concerns among senior military management at lunchtime yesterday. These concerns appear to have been allayed last night when a written version of the agreement became available to the military.
According to the terms of the written agreement the Defence Forces "establishment" - that is, its stated strength - will be reduced to 10,500 as outlined in the Minister's original White Paper. But the Chief of Staff will have authority to recruit 250 personnel above this figure, and will constantly have this number in training.
The proposal in the White Paper for a joint military-civil service committee on police and procurement, headed by a civil servant, has been withdrawn.
On personnel, it states that the reduction in the Defence Forces will be the responsibility of the Chief of Staff and not the Department of Defence, as proposed in the original draft White Paper. However, the proposals of the Chief of Staff remain subject to the approval of the Minister.
This section also states: "There will be no further review of the Defence Forces in the life of the White Paper" - a term stated as 10 years.
The Chief of Staff has control over all promotions. The draft White Paper proposed that this responsibility would lie with the Department. The Chief of Staff will also have an advertising budget for recruitment.
The Army also retains its three-brigade structure. This ends, for at least the next 10 years, the prospect of further reduction to a one-brigade structure of 8,300, as proposed by the Department of Finance.
In addition, the Chief of Staff will control the amount of training time allocated to the FCA.
The agreement defines the Chief of Staff as the main military adviser to the Minister and Government. The draft White Paper proposal that this role would fall to the secretary of the Department of Defence, a civilian, is reversed.