Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

There is much unease among the Defence Forces at the moment, and I think the Minister got that cold wind yesterday when he was at the PDFORRA conference. They are just not happy. People must be encouraged to stay in the Defence Forces. Unlike other public service bodies, they reacted to the white paper and reduced their number from over 14,000 to 10,500. They have complied with every request that was made of them. When the Defence Forces are asked to do something, they do it. However, they now feel they are being victimised vis-À-vis other public service sectors. The Minister must support the Defence Forces. He will have to get some concessions on promotions. The moratorium on recruitment must be reviewed at the end of the year. It is one of the few proposals from the McCarthy report that has already occurred without even being implemented.

See this speech in context