John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Before I start, I offer my condolences to the witnesses' colleague, Mr. Martin Bright, and his family on their sad bereavement. I thank the witnesses for attending our meeting this afternoon. It is hugely important. I thank them for all their work on very important and serious issues affecting our Defence Forces. I commend them on all the work they have engaged on over the last number of years.

I will hone in on a couple of points. Mr. Guinan referred to affiliation with ICTU, which my party and I fully support. It is something that should happen. Examples have been given of other defence forces and armies across Europe and beyond, which have rights to affiliate with unions. It should also happen in Ireland. I have raised this a number of times with the Minister. He has not said "No" but has refrained from making more detailed commentary as he is aware of legal issues going on in the background. Can our witnesses give an update on how things are progressing in terms of engagement with the Minister on that issue?

Mr. Guinan also mentioned the pay review body and the fact there was absolutely zero consultation with PDFORRA regarding its establishment. Do Mr. Guinan or the other witnesses think PDFORRA has the ability to work? Is it a mechanism or body that should be made redundant and ICTU affiliation made the primary focus instead? I ask for a view on that.

I will also touch on the 1994 contract because, certainly during my engagement with members of the Defence Forces, it is an issue that keeps cropping up and has serious consequences. We see members of the Defence Forces joining in their late teens and then forced out, possibly in their late 30s, because of these contracts. The contracts are acting as a massive impediment and adding to the major retention issue within the Defence Forces. We see the impact of the 1994 contracts in terms of the inability of young families to take out mortgages. I raised this previously with the Minister. I hope I correctly heard what Mr. Guinan said about an interim report. He might go into a little more detail about it because I have previously asked the Minister about the possibility of changing those contracts. Can we get a little more detail on that?

On issues relating to the contracts, it is my understanding limited assistance is offered to personnel intending to leave the Defence Forces or preparing for civilian life. The State has a duty of service to assist personnel who have given extended service to their country's defence in the transition from military to civilian life. What impact would securing the appointment of dedicated personnel, who could operate in the guise of vocational advisers, to prepare members of the Defence Forces with the necessary skills required to find employment in civilian life, recognise the skills they may have developed within the Defence Forces and learn to transfer them to the labour market? Can PDFORRA see the value in such a role?

I will ask about the technical pay review. The issue of cybersecurity has dominated the airwaves over the past week or so, as has the ability of foreign-based criminals to launch an attack on the HSE computer system. We are still seeing the fall-out and repercussions from that. While I do not want to ask about the issue specifically as it is beyond our remit today, it is an inescapable fact that the failure of the Government to adequately deal with the technical pay review is impacting on recruitment and retention of Defence Forces personnel in key skill units, such as those charged with dealing with cybersecurity. This is linked to the wider recruitment and retention issue within the Defence Forces as a whole.

According to figures furnished by the Minister, despite a focus on recruitment the standing strength of the Defence Forces has continued to fall and further decreased from 2019 to 2020. That issue is particularly felt within the Naval Service, which has seen a 40% reduction in naval patrols since 2018. That is primarily due to the fact that the Naval Service lacks the personnel to crew vessels. Within the same time period, we saw a 12% drop in the number of personnel being inducted into the service. I ask the witnesses to comment on this wider issue of difficulty in recruitment and retention, particularly in those highly-skilled units.

I will touch on the medical assistance scheme. I ask our witnesses to give a bit more detail on the PDFORRA medical assistance scheme. It appears that PDFORRA had to step in to provide a service to members of the Defence Forces that really should be the responsibility of the Government. Can the witnesses give some detail or background to that? I will leave it at that. I again thank our witnesses for their presentation to the committee and their ongoing work in representing members of the Defence Forces.