Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

I am grateful to the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this topic. It is important as we move towards the last day of this session that we have an opportunity to have a brief discussion with the Minister. I appreciate his presence to deal with the issue directly because his recent announcement on the further reorganisation of the Defence Forces is of considerable importance.

I acknowledge that we are all living through a period of public service reform. There was talk about reform of the public service for decades, but it is only in the past four or five years that have we seen meaningful reform. Unfortunately, that meaningful reform has been forced on us by economic necessity.

If we consider the Defence Forces and their history, we will see that even during the Celtic tiger period when money was not an issue and Governments were investing substantial amounts of money, in terms of both the pay and conditions of members of the Defence Forces and in providing the modern equipment a modern army embarking on peacekeeping and peace enforcement missions needed, there was a process of reform in the Defence Forces. Barracks numbers were reduced from 34 to 14 and, in fairness, the representative bodies, RACO and PDFORRA, engaged in a constructive and meaningful way with the Government on the reforms they were being asked to undertake. In addition to barracks number reductions, we saw personnel numbers decline from 11,500 to 9,500. I commend the Minister for his commitment in his announcement yesterday to maintain the figure at 9,500. However, what is worrying for people who have an interest in this topic is that the announcement has been made in advance of the Minister's commitment to publish a Green Paper and the value for money review of the Reserve Defence Force. One wonders how the Minister can stand over the taking of that initiative, while at the same time being committed to following a Green Paper process and a value for money review.

It would be remiss of me, not least given that I come from County Kildare where the Defence Forces are at the heart of the community and the economy of the county, not to say there is deep disappointment on the part of the representative bodies, RACO and PDFORRA, that there was no active engagement with them, although the Minister can contradict me on this, before the announcement was made. It is not to say they are a particularly truculent or difficult pair of representative bodies to deal with; they are anything but, rather they are reasonable and would state to the Minister, as they indicated to my party when it was in government, that they were to the fore in the public service in accepting meaningful change and adopting a reform agenda. They are disappointed that this significant announcement has been made without adequate, if any, consultation with them. I would like to hear what the Minister has to say about this.

There seems to be a sense among the membership of the Defence Forces that the move from three brigades to two is not necessary and that reform could be achieved within the overall figure of 9,500 members. There will be disappointment in a number of areas, not least in Athlone where it appears that there will be a further reduction in the number serving, with an impact on the local economy. The Minister might indicate whether a cost benefit analysis has been undertaken. Can he assure us there will be no further barrack closures and on the implications for the career path of the officer corps within the Defence Forces in the structures he is trying to put in place?

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