Is the Irish Army over generalised?

A caller to some radio show yesterday said there were 28 generals in the Irish Army each on a salary of €200,000.

The presenter’s scepticism of this claim was justified when another caller said there were only eleven generals in the army.

But even eleven generals is an astonishing figure for such a small defence force.

In total, there are 9,500 personnel in the Irish Defence Forces. That includes the Navy (just under 1,000 personnel) and the Air Corps (also about 1,000).

In real armies there are (generally) three types of generals.

Brigadier General; commands up to 5,000 soldiers.

Major General; commands up to 15,000 soldiers.

Lieutenant General; commands up to 50,000 plus.

Going by these figures the Irish Army should have just one general, what are the rest of them doing?

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