Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raised my concerns around the so-called value for money review of the Reserve Defence Force and its role with the Minister, Deputy Shatter, a number of weeks ago during defence questions. I appealed to him to have another look at the submission made by the Reserve Defence Force Representative Association, RDFRA, back in 2010 and the innovative proposals within that before a final decision would be made. I am outraged to learn the representatives of the Reserve Defence Force were given just hours to prepare a response to this 110 page document, although they had been assured they would have at least a week to make a response. As a result, they have not endorsed the report or the recommendations.

What is to happen? Essentially, the Government is going to halve the budget for the Reserve Defence Force and halve the numbers within it. As the Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe, knows, rural parishes throughout the State will lose their outposts, which are being centralised to a number of locations and main camps. There has been an awful lot of pride in these organisations over the years.

They are the umbilical link between the Permanent Defence Force and the communities they represent. It is not just about St. Patrick's Day parades. They are involved in fund-raising and other initiatives. Most important, they help young people to establish a civic and patriotic connection with the country. It is a huge tragedy that the Minister has decided to agree to a so-called value for money report that saves €11 million.

I will outline to the Minister of State how €11 million could be saved based on Sinn Féin's budget proposals. The Government would save €11 million if it cut payments to political appointees to State boards by 25%, cut the salaries of Ministers to €100,000 per annum and cut the salaries of Deputies to €75,000. The Government has a choice. It could halve the resource of the Reserve Defence Force, take away the connection with local communities across the State, radically deplete the mostly civic and voluntary service that gives considerable value for money - despite the recommendations in the report - or it could cut the pay of political appointees, Ministers and Deputies. It is all about choices and that is what the Minister has chosen to do. That is a disgraceful way to treat the representatives of the Reserve Defence Force. They were only given hours to look over the report and it was published without giving them any chance to give feedback in response to the recommendations of the report. It was a serious mistake not to take on board their ideas in terms of the final outcome of the report. What is the response of the Minister?

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