Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We all accept the Defence Forces have been leaders in change management as far as the Irish public service is concerned. To a certain extent, it has become victim of its own success. The issue of people sleeping in the car is the direct consequence of the radical changes made by the Minister's predecessor in terms of the closure of barracks and creating situations where people were forced to make daily round trips of up to 300 km to their place of work.

The issue of family income supplement is more fundamental. We have been talking about the valuable role our Defence Forces play in observation and peacekeeping internationally and of the pride the Minister, all Members and the Irish people have. Is it not appalling to think that people we deploy internationally to carry out these responsible tasks must depend, in the case of 20% of them, on the Department of Social Protection to meet their day-to-day living costs?

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