Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Our Defence Forces are facing a crisis and personnel numbers are critically low. Under the Tánaiste's watch, more people are leaving the Defence Forces every year than are being recruited. The Commission on the Future of the Defence Forces set out a very clear roadmap to address this crisis. It capital terms it set out the need for a €250 million investment each year for the next ten years. Last year, the Government missed that target by €70 million. The Tánaiste is now Minister for Defence and he missed the target this year by another €70 million. The capital budget for the Defence Forces is exactly the same as it was last year and the Tánaiste has ignored the Commission on the Future of the Defence Force's recommendations two years in a row. The budget includes no new measures to address the retention and recruitment crisis in the Defence Forces. It is clear the Tánaiste is neglecting our Defence Forces. That will continue as long as Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are in Government. Will the Tánaiste be upfront and acknowledge that the budget failed to deliver the investment our Army, Air Corps and Naval Service so desperately need? Did the Tánaiste even seek the money in the first place or did he decide not to ask what the commission required?

See this speech in context