Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At the committee meeting last week, the Minister of State said he has written to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform regarding what he says is a retention issue. Writing to somebody with whom he sits at Cabinet is not an adequate political response to what is an issue, as the Minister of State has admitted himself. There needs to be an escalation with regard to the serious pay and conditions problem that exists in the Defence Forces. The Minister of State is missing his own threshold and target in the White Paper, which he outlined. He did not match it this year and he will not match it next year.

Despite increased recruitment, we still have haemorrhaging in our Defence Forces and morale is at an all-time low. We are losing corporate knowledge and experience because people are trying to leave because of the lack of hope about pay and conditions. It is not sufficient simply to write to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. There needs to be a greater pathway of hope for the restoration of pay and allowances and a proper policy on retention, rather than giving answers to this Parliament quoting various patterns and trends. It is clear to everyone who has any knowledge of the Defence Forces that they have a problem with retention and recruitment and people trying to leave en masse. It is important that the Minister of State has policies to address this problem and that his officials take it seriously.

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