{"id":573217,"date":"2026-07-29T04:36:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T04:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/573217\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T04:36:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T04:36:16","slug":"vote-of-confidence-as-minister-reveals-new-plans-for-finner-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/573217\/","title":{"rendered":"Vote of confidence as Minister reveals new plans for Finner Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Minister for Defence has given the future of Finner Camp a major vote of confidence this afternoon after revealing new plans for the Donegal army base.<\/p>\n

Minister Helen McEntee made her first official visit to the home of the 28th\u00a0Infantry Battalion.<\/p>\n

The Minister was welcomed on arrival by the Assistant Chief of Staff, Brigadier General Neil Nolan and the Officer Commanding 28th\u00a0Infantry Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Jim O\u2019Shea.<\/p>\n

The Minister had the opportunity to see some of the significant progress being made on infrastructure delivery for Finner Camp.<\/p>\n

She also met with many of the more than 400 personnel based there, including a platoon of recruits currently undergoing their recruit training.<\/p>\n

The Minister welcomed the \u20ac2.5 million refurbishment of the installation\u2019s gymnasium, on which work is expected to be completed next month.<\/p>\n

And she revealed that there are also plans in the pipeline to refurbish the camp’s dining hall.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Minister McEntee chats with soldiers during her visit to Finner Camp today.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe newly refurbished gymnasium will ensure that a range of sports and activities can be delivered to trainees, students, soldiers, and staff as part of their military training, their personal fitness and well-being, and their pursuit of recreational sports skills.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn addition, my Department will shortly launch a tender competition for the construction of the new Dining Hall, which reflects my commitment to improving the living and working environments for all military personnel at the Camp, which I\u2019m sure will be a major factor influencing their morale, training, health and overall personal development.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Minister also met a number of the 400 Defence Forces personnel based at Finner Camp, including a platoon of recruits who are currently undertaking their recruit training.<\/p>\n

Having met personnel based at the Camp, the Minister said \u201cIt was a pleasure to meet members of the 46th\u00a0Recruit Platoon and wish them well in their training and future careers with \u00d3glaigh na h\u00c9ireann.<\/p>\n

\u201c2025 saw a modest, though significant, growth in the overall strength of nearly 200, with a total of 790 inductions achieved – the highest in twenty years – and the number of personnel who discharged was at its lowest level in more than five years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have set a target of 850 inductions for 2026. The recruits in training here in Finner Camp are further evidence of our determination to convert the high level of applications to inductions in the Defence Forces.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Minister for Defence has given the future of Finner Camp a major vote of confidence this afternoon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-573217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}