Gabrielle McFadden (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Paul Kehoe, and his officials for being here today. In his presentation, the Minister of State said that the organisation is making an invaluable contribution to international peace and security and conflict resolution. I do not doubt his pride and appreciate for the Defence Forces as it is always evident when I meet him face to face and in his dealings with members of the Defence Forces. It is important that we do not forget the work done by the Defences Forces at home. They are always the first port of call when there is a difficulty in terms of severe weather events, flooding and so on. They never fail to support us. I never hide the fact that I have an enormous grá for the Defence Forces. I find it very difficult to equate how proud we are of our Defence Forces personnel with the pay and conditions issue. Defence Forces personnel are the lowest paid public servants. Regardless of the outcome of the pay commission report, the likelihood is that they will remain the lowest paid public servants. There is reportedly €30 million in the Department of Defence Vote that cannot be spent because the strength of the Defence Forces is way below what was set out in the White Paper on Defence. This money will be returned to the Exchequer. Why can the Minister of State and the Department not fight for spend of this money on restoration of duty pay?

Nobody should do a full week's work in the Defence Forces, then do a 24 hour duty on the weekend, and then go back into work. People will say they get time in lieu. Time in lieu does not pay the electricity bill or put food on the table, so that is no good. That €30 million-odd could be used to restore duty pay. The cook technician pay issue has been going on since 2012, or that is when I became involved in it. I had many people come to me back in the day. Three of them were very good friends of mine and I am sad to say that two out of the three are now dead and never got their cook technician pay. On the provision for free rations and accommodation for recruits and apprentices, I cannot understand how a recruit would have to go to camp and then pay for his rations and accommodation as part of his training. That is not good enough. The €30 million could be used to pay for such things. Although people will say this will cause a domino effect with regard to teachers, nurses and so on, that money is in the Department and the Department should be able to use it whichever way it wants to.

Following on from that, I ask why the Chief of Staff does not have Accounting Officer status. This does not make sense to me. He should be able to do these things. He is a very capable academic and he has military knowledge, so he should be allowed to use it.

The Minister of State referred to the air ambulance service, which is an area of great concern to me. Given the lack of pilots and given what happened with the Naval Service ships that were not able to depart, I am concerned about the air ambulance service. I fought very hard for that air ambulance to be maintained through the pilots scheme in Athlone, and I would hate to see it in any difficulty.

As the Minister of State said, it is not all bad news. With that in mind, I acknowledge what happened yesterday when the Minister of State announced that the budget for ONE went up from €44,000 last year to €100,000 this year. ONE is a fantastic organisation looking after ex-servicemen. I also acknowledge the €4.1 million that went into Athlone barracks for the dining hall. All of these things are positive, in particular the money that is being spent on capital projects. None of them is any good, however, if we do not have soldiers, and if we do not pay them, we will not get them. The only way to retain soldiers is to pay them properly. I urge the Minister of State to look into the issues of duty pay and cook technician pay. He should fight to use that €30 million to look after our Defence Forces.