Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

There is a chance that the process in which the Minister of State is engaged will look at strategic allocation to and investment in barracks. I think our Defence Forces have lost out and have been short-changed. They did not do well during the difficult period the country went through. More than anyone else, the members of the Defence Forces were affected by pay cuts and under-investment. This can now be seen in a variety of ways. I have been told by people who are close to the ground and have experience of the reorganisation of the Defence Forces that soldiers are now moving all over the country. People are coming down from Finner Camp to do barracks duties at Cathal Brugha Barracks. This involves a huge amount of travelling, which is one of the reasons for the high turnover of people within the Defence Forces. We do not give them enough support and resources. This is an opportunity for the Minister of State and the Defence Forces to modernise. This should not just be about a five-year capital programme involving €30 million or €50 million, as the Minister of State has mentioned, but it should be about thinking big with regard to how best to organise our defence operations in the Dublin area. Some 227 acres are available at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel, which is not a small site. Lands are also available at McKee Barracks and Cathal Brugha Barracks. Other nearby facilities include those at the Curragh. Will the Minister of State avail of this opportunity to tackle the housing crisis? More than that, in his role as Minister of State with responsibility for defence he has an opportunity to change the game by investing in our Defence Forces in a way that will give them a really modern and top-of-the-range facility in one of the locations I have mentioned.

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