Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

A Defence Forces climate survey of 2015 found that staff had broadly become less happy with their work in the military over the intervening years from 2008 when the previous report had been put together. According to the report, there is a perception of a lack of justice in the organisation, especially among the lower ranks, and that the espoused values of the Defence Forces are not effectively enacted daily. The majority of respondents do not feel a sense of belonging and identification with the organisation. While Fianna Fáil's motion sounds notes of great patriotism and the pride and honour that goes with saying it is a great and wonderful Army and noting the sacrifices it makes, I am left cold when I think about the survey and how this and previous Governments, including those of Fianna Fáil, have allowed the pay and conditions of soldiers to be run down to the point that 7,000 members of the Defence Forces have to claim family income support from the State while PDFORRA has no right to provide them with official representation.

I experienced déjà vuwhen Deputy Mick Barry announced the protest at barracks by wives and families of soldiers. It was the wives and families of soldiers who had to come out and protest in the past at the conditions military personnel were working under. They deserve to be treated as patriots. There is a very good part of the Sinn Féin amendment which states that Ireland should remain exempt from having to increase its spending on weapons and military capabilities from 0.6% to 2% of GDP because of the European common security and defence policy. We should amend that to state that if we have to increase to 2% of GDP, the money should be used to treat soldiers properly, to pay them properly and to get them out of the state of low morale and poverty wages on which they exist. It is shocking.

I feel a sense of pride in our Defence Forces not because I adhere to any policy of war or aggression but because they do wonderful things like go to the Mediterranean and pull refugees from the sea, saving the lives of children, men and women. That is something of which to be enormously proud.It is also something to be proud of when they are involved in rescue missions like the one we saw in the west of Ireland and save people there. However, there is underfunding of the rescue service capacity of the Defence Forces and that needs to be addressed. Our amendment to the motion attempts to address some of these issues. In the context of speaking about the military, we should welcome the opportunity to reiterate the role the Defence Forces can play in saving lives and protecting people from climate change and other disasters. We should also note the attempt by this and previous Governments to rubbish the policy of neutrality in this country by continually allowing Shannon Airport to be used as a stopover by other military powers on their way to death and destruction across the Middle East and elsewhere. It is not just an abuse of our neutrality but an insult to the idea of our independence and the role our own military should play in maintaining peace and security at home and abroad in the services they nobly provide to save lives due to climate change and war. While I support many aspects of the proposed amendments, I do not support the substantive motion.

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