Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

My question was on what steps the Minister was taking to reduce the number of persons in the Defence Forces in receipt of family income supplement. If the Minister tells me he is happy that our Army is dependent on family income supplement, we are in serious trouble. In previous questions, he has repeatedly said he is committed to increasing the expenditure on defence and he acknowledges there is a crisis, with more people leaving the services than going into them. I understand that approximately 580 leave every year so when I ask what steps he is taking, the Minister might say what the Government is doing to address the crisis in addition to what has been agreed with unions or representative bodies. It seems to have any amount of money to spend on a European basis but not on basic salaries to lift basic conditions in the forces.

See this speech in context