Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am not one of those who commented on the photographs from the Phoenix Park, no more so than some of the photographs circulated regarding the delay in getting troops back from the Golan Heights. Some of that commentary was intended for wrong purposes. I usually try to check the facts. The reason I mentioned the Phoenix Park was because it showed many people the differences in remuneration for two arms of the State. Gardaí can get overtime while members of the Defence Forces get day allowances. One can understand how members of the Defence Forces and their families feel let down and less appreciated. It was more to get across to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Public Service Pay Commission that the Defence Forces are different from any other sector of the public service. If they can understand that, whatever system they put in place to reward 24-hour duty or longer will be appreciated. Without that, morale will stay low and the forces will continue to haemorrhage personnel. The fact that members of the Defence Forces are leaving to go to another arm of the State shows they can get better money elsewhere in the public service. I accept not everybody leaves for that reason.

The new naval ships bring their own challenges because they have to be crewed. We recently heard of crews not being available for ships leaving for duties in the Mediterranean. When the final ship is due, will the Naval Service have the complement required to fulfil its commitments? The Chief of Staff mentioned maritime defence and security and the fact that the Naval Service is patrolling an area three times the size of Germany. Our navy is much smaller than Germany’s which has a smaller area to patrol.

On Brexit, I presume the Defence Forces, like every organisation, is engaging in some planning in the background.

Many people take significant pride in the work done by the Defence Forces overseas, in particular with UNIFIL, Operation Pontus and Operation Sophia. Recently, when the LÉ James Joycereturned to Ireland, it was commented that it was not involved in as many rescues on this occasion. We did not hear fully from the Defence Forces on how it got on in the past. Hopefully, it played as large a role as previous naval ships did in previous missions. Irish people were in general happy with what happened in past missions.