Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Many aspects of this Bill are welcome. However, following on from report of the Commission on the Defence Forces, it seems that the Government is determined to squander this opportunity. Poor pay and conditions in the Defence Forces are not a new phenomenon. I speak as the son of a former Defence Forces veteran. My father spent 25 years serving this country at home and abroad. I saw growing up my father having to work side jobs or nixers as he used to call them. People would ask where my father is today, when he would be off doing a nixer just to make ends meet so we would have clothes on our backs and food on the tables. My family were the very definition of the working poor. Fast forward 30 years later and things have not changed. The level of pay is so bad that Defence Forces members are forced to apply for the working family payment. The fact that the State supplements wages through the working family payment is an acknowledgement by the State that Defence Forces personnel are underpaid.

A constituent of mine is a father a five who has served more than 25 years in the Defence Forces. The reality of the situation for him and his family is that in order for him to survive, he must sign up to go on overseas peacekeeping duties on a regular basis, which is something my own father had to do. This father has done this seven times so far. He is missing so much time with his wife and children. It is time he will never get back. This proud man also disclosed to me that he had to apply for the Defence Forces stress fund since his most recent tour abroad in order to survive. This man has served more than 25 years. He has gone abroad as a peacekeeper seven times and must come back and apply for a stress fund. This is simply not good enough.

Like my father, people go and served abroad on overseas missions with distinction because they want to serve, but there are also economic reasons for it just to get that extra few bob that is going to hold their family over. That needs to be recognised as well. While they do it for their country and because they want to serve abroad, they also do it for economic reasons because the pay in the Defence Forces is so poor.

While Sinn Féin welcomed the establishment of the oversight body, the omission of the representative associations is concerning. As the representative associations were represented on the precursor to the external oversight body, why have they been excluded now? There is a fear that the voices of certain members, such as my constituent, the father I mentioned, will not now be heard.

On the topic of the Defence Forces, I have to mention Irish neutrality. Undermining neutrality by changing the triple lock amounts to "nothing more than an out-of-touch ideological obsession on the part of Fine Gael which ignores the facts of Ireland’s international standing". Those are fine words, but they are not mine. They are the Tánaiste's words, stated in this House when he was in opposition in 2013. It is clear now that Fianna Fáil is abandoning Irish neutrality.

On the international stage, Irish neutrality has been fundamental to the unique role we play in peacekeeping and diplomacy. It is a strength for Ireland and one the people value and are proud of. Weakening or ending it would be a negative shift in Ireland’s foreign policy. The Government is drafting an amending Bill on the command and control structures for the triple lock and other matters. This could end the triple lock, a key part of protecting Ireland's neutrality. The programme for Government included a pledge to keep the triple lock. The Government has absolutely no mandate to change that against the will of the people. It is clear Fianna Fáil is doing a hypocritical U-turn that is not in Ireland's interests. Sinn Féin is committed to standing up for Ireland's interests and protecting neutrality.

Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel is the headquarters of the Air Corps. It is in my constituency and I know it well. There has been a long history of underinvestment in the aerodrome. The Government has made much-needed investment in some new aircraft but questions remain as to whether Casement Aerodrome is fit to house them. I have raised in the past the need to review whether Baldonnel has the capacity to maintain the two Airbus C295Ws located at the site and the C295 military aircraft that is in production. Does Casement Aerodrome have the capacity to house these new aircraft or are upgrades needed? What are the plans for the site? The Commission on the Defence Forces set out a pathway to rebuild our Defence Forces following decades of neglect and underinvestment by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments, and Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel must be part of this pathway.

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