Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

acknowledges the pride that Irish people take in the Defence Forces and the contribution made by the Permanent Defence Force, the Reserve Defence Force and Civil Defence;

remembers those members who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of the State, including those on overseas peacekeeping missions;

agrees that the single greatest asset the Defence Forces have is their personnel;

recognises that the dedication and professionalism manifested by the Defence Forces is inspiring;

compliments the Defence Forces on their central role in marking the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising;

believes that a career in the Defence Forces is a form of patriotism that provides an outstanding example to all of Irish society;

welcomes the publication of a new White Paper on Defence in 2015;

notes that:- the current allowed strength of the Defence Forces at 9,500 has stretched its ability to fulfil their assigned roles and maintain a credible contingent capability;

- the current effective strength of the Defence Forces is below 9,000;

- the geographical deployment of the Defence Forces is uneven;

- concentrating the majority of the Defence Forces in the east and south of the country removes the traditional place of the military with and from Irish society, ignores organisational linkages and histories, and erodes geographical and family military service traditions;

- the expressed view of one representative organisation in the Defence Forces that there are problems in a range of areas, including commuting, work-life balance and stress, and that morale is at the lowest it has been for some time, with comradeship and brotherhood fading;

- the significant difficulties that the Defence Forces have in the retention of personnel;

and

- the widespread belief that the 2012 reorganisation has not been a success;further notes that:- the effective membership of the Reserve Defence Force fell from 2,280 to 2,049 during 2016 and has fallen further to 1,970 this year;

- if the net loss of 200 members, that the Reserve Defence Force experienced last year, continues into the future it will cease to exist by 2026 and it is likely that it will be seen as impractical to sustain long before that; and

- the single force concept has not benefited the Reserve Defence Force; agrees that:

- Ireland needs a defence policy that is measured, fit for purpose and appropriately resourced;

- Irish defence spending is very low, even by the standards of neutral countries;

- at €639 million in 2015, defence expenditure, excluding pensions, amounted to just 0.25 per cent of gross domestic product, GDP; and

- a low level of resources is not ultimately consistent with a credible defence policy;and

calls for:- military professionals to be allowed play a meaningful and worthwhile role in the formulation of policy advice to the Government;

- reservists to be allowed play a meaningful and worthwhile role in support of the Permanent Defence Force;

- annual updates on the implementation of the 2015 White Paper to be provided to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence;

- consultation with the representative organisations in the Defence Forces on the practicalities of implementing the 2015 White Paper;

- a review of legislation and Defence Forces’ regulations governing the Reserve Defence Force;

- regular recruitment campaigns for both the Permanent Defence Force and the Reserve Defence Force and new retention initiatives;

- the reinstatement of Defence as a lead portfolio in the Cabinet;

- the restoration of the Army to a three brigade structure by re-establishing the 4th Western Brigade based in Custume Barracks, Athlone;

- the establishment and strength of the Permanent Defence Force to be increased to 10,500 personnel across the Army, the Air Corps and the Naval Service by 2021; and

- renewed efforts to ensure that the Reserve Defence Force reaches its establishment strength of 4,069.

I wish to share time with Deputies Marc MacSharry, Niamh Smyth and Kevin O'Keeffe.

Irish people take great pride in the Defence Forces and the contribution made by the Permanent Defence Force, PDF, the Reserve Defence Force, RDF, and Civil Defence. We all agree that the greatest asset the Defence Forces have is their personnel - the men and women of Óglaigh na hÉireann who serve the country with distinction - yet the Defence Forces are facing huge difficulties retaining and recruiting sufficient personnel. The organisation is seriously below strength and it is way past time the process of rebuilding began. We have reached a crisis point with critical staffing shortages across all arms of the organisation. The decline in numbers in recent years has left the force with just 9,070 personnel, some 430 below the current agreed strength. Even though a new recruitment campaign was launched last year, in the year up to February 2017, the numbers in the Defence Forces fell yet again. Fianna Fáil believes we should look to increase the force's strength to 10,500 in the coming year but we also believe it is just as important to retain what we have.

This question of why we need the Defence Forces is commonly asked but often poorly responded to. To be a sovereign state with a functioning democracy, we need to have a properly resourced Defence Forces with appropriate capabilities. We take for granted that the Defence Forces are loyal to the State and protect the Republic and our democracy. It may seem trivial to say but other jurisdictions around the globe do not enjoy such a scenario. The Defence Forces provide many vital services, often quietly and with little or no fanfare. They just get on with their job and we take for granted that we have their protection and their loyalty as a state.

The Defence Forces provide aid to the civil power, assist An Garda Síochána when required, work with the Irish Prison Service, respond to bomb threats in the State, assist with flood relief, respond to national emergencies, provide air ambulance transfers for transplant patients, and assist with search and rescue, as was recently done off the coast of County Mayo, all the while fulfilling the State's obligations to the protection of peace and security internationally through UN mandated missions. All these are vital services that citizens expect to be available when called upon. No one is seeking a gold plated Defence Forces but we expect an adequately resourced organisation that can respond to basic needs of citizens. Given the critical staffing shortages currently being experienced, do the Defence Forces have the ability to respond to the needs of citizens and the State? Where now stands the security of the State given we are seriously lacking in sufficient manpower across the Army, the Naval Service and Air Corps?

The State's defence policy, its implementation and resourcing of the Defence Forces must be appropriate. Fianna Fáil is committed to a defence policy that is measured, fit for purpose, and appropriately resourced. The Defence Forces have been an easy target for cost cutting. Their unreserved loyalty and professionalism are perhaps often taken advantage of. Policy has become a matter of fitting the Defence Forces into a particular budget envelope. That is not policy-making but an emasculation of the organisation by stealth. Defence expenditure last year was just 0.55% of GDP. Given the EU average is 1.2%, this represents extremely low defence spending by any standard. With the Defence Forces being reorganised eight times since 1992, there has been considerable upheaval, which has taken its toll. Consistent underfunding and poor pay and conditions for serving men and women have led to a consistent and ever-escalating loss of experienced personnel. We are haemorrhaging key highly skilled personnel at such an alarming rate that I cannot understand the Government's laissez-faireattitude to the situation. What will it take for it to react and implement a meaningful retention policy?

Fianna Fáil has consistently highlighted that the departure of many personnel could affect our Defence Forces' operations and capabilities. That is happening and it has been a clear concern for me as spokesperson for defence since taking up my position only a year ago. I have consistently questioned Government on this issue and, to date, I have not seen an improvement; in fact, the numbers keep dwindling. Does the Government not realise that just over 9,000 members is too low for the PDF? The current agreed strength is 9,500 and at this stage it would be progress to reach that level, but we are fast losing hope that the Government has any intention of attaining this figure. This is hardly acceptable for a force that acts as a guarantor of State sovereignty.

There has been a 15% reduction in officer numbers since 2012 and that is set to worsen if an adequate retention plan is not put in place immediately. It has been reported that last year, 76 officers left the Defence Forces early - a rate which is simply unsustainable. Representative organisations say they have attempted to engage with management to have their concerns addressed but with little success. The Representative Association of Commissioned Officers, RACO, has warned that the military is critically short of specialist officers, including pilots, aeronautical engineers, and bomb disposal experts, and that a contributing factor to this brain drain has been the Department's refusal to honour conditions of service. The bomb disposal service is at half its officer strength and I have been informed that the Army cannot conduct live firing training in Kilworth camp due to a lack of corporals. I am sure the Minister of State will agree that this is astonishing. He will appreciate that this type of training is as close to real life combat as a soldier can get and is vital training for anyone who is to be deployed overseas. I assume the Government has been made aware of this. What does it intend to do about it?

The recent irish Coast Guard tragedy led to renewed scrutiny of Air Corps capabilities. The Air Corps has been significantly short staffed in its aeronautical engineering department and has only 70% of pilots currently needed. The Air Corps has 211 vacancies and it has been maintained by the Government that the 28 cadets in training, eight of whom are due to graduate later this year, is somehow adequate. The Government will be a long time filling 211 vacancies. Not one of these eight trainees will be qualified to even act as co-pilot of a helicopter or fixed-wing CASA in an Air Corps operational wing until the summer of 2019 at the earliest. A service commitment scheme in respect of Air Corps pilots was in operation until 2010. This gave pilots a €20,000 payment in return for a three to five-year commitment to remain in the corps. It did not bring the salary up to private sector level but it proved sufficient to retain people. This scheme must be reinstated immediately. Given it costs €1.5 million to train a pilot, the scheme would save the State money and retain key capabilities. How has the Minister of State allowed this to get to this stage?

The 2012 restructuring of the Defence Forces continues to generate controversy. The organisation provides a contingency capability for the State across a wide spectrum of operational areas on land, at sea and in the air. The requirement to increase the size of the Defence Forces rapidly in times of national or international emergency and having decreased manning levels in times of less need are essential to that contingency. Maintaining the formation structures to facilitate such expansion is a centuries-old prudent policy. In this light, we cannot ignore the challenges that Brexit might bring and there needs to be proper contingency planning in respect of the Defence Forces. We should not be reactionary and wait for a problem to present itself before we consider what we might do. We should do what we can now to plan ahead.

I hope we never see a border in this country again but we cannot ignore the possibility. We need Defence Forces that can respond to such a situation. This will likely involve the redeployment of personnel to different locations. The re-establishment of the 4th Western Brigade and an increase in numbers up to 10,500 would certainly be a prudent measure in the short term as we prepare for this potential border. The House should also consider that there has been an additional cost in the loss of the Western Brigade. Troops from Dundalk, Athlone and Donegal carry out routine security duties in Dublin with associated fuel costs, wear and tear on vehicles, increased requirement for vehicle servicing, along with many other costs. There is no doubt, having spoken to members of the Defence Forces, that this reorganisation and the loss of the three-brigade structure has caused hardship for soldiers, with increased travel, poorer work-life balance and less certainty around location. These have all contributed to a decrease in morale across the ranks.

Fianna Fáil has called for the three-brigade structure to be restored. The move to a two-brigade structure was ill-advised and ignored long-standing organisational linkages and histories. The savings which accrued were minimal and did not deliver appreciable benefits.

We must also address the matter of defence at the Cabinet. In tabling the motion Fianna Fáil is acting on its belief that the Defence Forces are of critical importance to both the State and society. Sadly, it has not always been clear since 2011 that Governments have sufficiently valued the Defence Forces organisation. The decision in March 2011 to assign the defence portfolio as a subsidiary role to the Minister for Justice and Equality indicated an essential lack of respect for the position. While it was not unreasonable to assign it with another Cabinet portfolio, to do so with the Department of Justice and Equality, one of the busiest Departments, was a retrograde step. We must commit to the restoration of defence as a lead portfolio in the Cabinet. The Minister with day-to-day responsibility for defence policy should be a fully fledged Cabinet Minister, not a Minister of State, as is the case. This would be a very clear affirmation of the value the State must place on the Defence Forces. Overall, the intention of the motion is to convey the respect of the House to the Defence Forces, to recognise the extraordinary contribution every man and woman in the service give to the State, to acknowledge the very difficult period the organisation has gone through in recent years in terms of cuts and reorganisation and to say we hear the concerns of every serving man and woman serving in the Defence Forces and that are committed to addressing these concerns and ensuring the lot of each serving member is improved. We cannot ignore the critical situation in which we find ourselves and the fact that this and the previous Government have allowed us to get to a stage where there is now a critical staffing shortage across every organisation of the Defence Forces. The retention policy must be key. That is why Fianna Fáil is putting the motion to the House in the hope it will generate cross-party support.

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