Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This morning, the country took a bit of a battering. We think of all of those who are out working - gardaí, local authority staff and service workers. As a House, we also send our sympathies to the family of the lady who was killed this morning in a storm-related incident. We wish safety to everyone else.

Among those responding to this weather challenge are members of the Defence Forces. They will do so with dedication and commitment, as they do in everything. The country is rightly proud of our Defence Forces, how they serve and protect us and our world and how they have contributed over many years - 60 years was marked earlier this year - in Lebanon, Syria and the Golan Heights, to mention but a few. Irish soldiers, naval forces and Air Corps personnel are valued across the globe, and we all admire them for their work at home as well as their dedication and expertise. We remember with pride their participation in the centenary of the 1916 Rising, particularly given what that participation brought to the occasion.

However, compliments and commendations do not put meals on tables. Despite many debates in the Dáil and a report commissioned by the University of Limerick on the Defence Forces, little to nothing has been done by the Government about the concerns affecting them. Members of the Defence Forces are men and women who have the same costs as the rest of us but are now finding it impossible to rear families, get mortgages and tackle day-to-day costs because they are serving our country. A large proportion of Defence Forces members have had to sign up for family income supplement, or the working family payment as it is now known.

Defence Forces personnel are leaving on a weekly basis. Expertise is being lost to the State and colleagues are losing colleagues because the private sector is putting much better offers on the table. The current numbers in the Defence Forces are the lowest in the history of the State at just over 9,000, which is 490 below the agreed strength. In her response, the Minister will say that a recruitment campaign is under way, but she will not say how many are leaving on a weekly or monthly basis and therefore nullifying the recruitment campaign. The exodus has been under way since 2012. The number of Army officers has dropped by 15% from 966 to 817.

At every level in our Defence Forces, there is a crisis. It has grown so large that there will be a parade to this House today so that attention can once again focus on the challenges facing our Defence Forces. Former members of the Defence Forces, including some very senior personnel who have given world service, and family members of current personnel have had to mobilise to draw the Government's attention to their plight.

Does the Minister accept that numbers in our Defence Forces are unacceptable and that the exodus of personnel and expertise has to be stopped? What engagement has the Taoiseach, who is apparently the Minister for Defence, or the Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe, had with the Defence Forces to address their concerns? What is the Government's response to today's parade?

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