DESPITE the programme to cut Defence Forces personnel by 11.5 per cent, an officer who resigned last month is to be allowed return to his post in the Army.
The officer is the first to be readmitted since the rationalisalion plan was introduced three years ago. Two other officers who applied were refused.
The decision to readmit the 37 year old captain, who had been serving in a Dublin barracks, was made recently. His readmission has come as a surprise to other serving personnel, who are coming to terms with the biggest reduction in the Defence Forces - from 13,000 to 11,500 - since the end of the second World War.
An Army spokesman said there was a "shortage of captains" and that, as the officer was not in any of the categories targeted for early retirement, it was "considered prudent" that he be accepted back to address this shortage.
He had not qualified for the early retirement package when he resigned on March 3rd and left without any of the additional payments that go with the Voluntary Early Retirement (VER) scheme. He had taken a position as an administrative officer with a computer company.
He reapplied for his job in the Army on March 21st and will return to duties soon.
A number of other officers have resigned recently outside the terms of the early retirement scheme. One such is Capt Billy Timmins, who was selected by Fine Gael as a candidate in Wicklow at a convention last week.
In the latest round of early retirements some 630 service personnel - 70 officers and 560 from the noncommissioned ranks - will receive offers shortly of early retirement payments to encourage them to leave the Defence Forces. Many will receive inducements of more than £30,000.
Altogether some 2,300 military personnel are being encouraged to take early retirement over a three year period to 1998.
At the same time almost 1,000 new recruits are being inducted as part of the overall plan to change the age profile of the Defence Forces.
Some £46 million has been allocated for early retirement payments for 1996 and 1997.