Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

The Minister's defence is to attack. I raised a pertinent question about this reply being published in a newspaper. When I met the journalist who wrote this article at the RACO conference, I congratulated him. I told him that we would read what he reported in the newspaper and we could table questions to the Minister on the basis of his articles because he is given all the information before us. This does nothing for the House.

The article states there will be 30 acting up vacancies and this will be a temporary measure. Could the number of vacancies be increased? There are many structural problems in the Army. The Defence Forces are based on chain of command and these vacancies create a health and safety issue, according to responsible members of the force with whom I have been in contact. I keep in constant contact with RACO, PDFORRA and RDFRA and I know what is happening in the Defence Forces and the Minister cannot say I do not. However, I refer to the command structure within the Defence Forces and vacant positions being filled by people of a lesser rank. Surely this raises a health and safety issue. Has the Minister examined this? Has he also examined the issue of officers and others leaving the Defence Forces before their time is up, which is also a health and safety issue?

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