Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of everyone in the House, including the Government, I offer my sincere condolences to the family and friends of the lady who passed away this morning due to the adverse weather conditions in Galway.

I agree with much of what the Deputy said. At home and overseas, the men and women of our Defence Forces serve Ireland with absolute distinction. The Defence Forces are part of a bedrock underpinning the safety and security of every person in this country and others further afield. It would be understating it to say that the Government values each and every member and the roles he or she carries out, be it peacekeeping or supporting other State agencies at home. For example, the Defence Forces are today helping the ESB because of the adverse weather conditions.

It is for these reasons that the Government has tasked the Public Service Pay Commission, PSPC, to examine the question of recruitment that the Deputy mentioned as well as retention issues in the Defence Forces, of which I will say we are well aware just in case the Deputy thinks we are not. The process is under way, submissions have been made and the commission is engaging with individual serving members. This is just one element of the efforts to improve Defence Forces members' pay and conditions. As with other areas of our public services, members of the Defence Forces are benefitting from pay increases due under the pay agreements and revised pay scales for post-2013 recruits. These have already been implemented. Those increases range from approximately 6.2% to 7.4%. They are also benefitting from the restoration to pre-FEMPI levels for everyone earning under €70,000. The first 1% increase became payable on 1 January 2018. The second increase is due to be applied on 1 October. The 5% in allowances that were cut by FEMPI legislation because of the economic and financial position that the State was in during the precarious years from 2010 until very recently are scheduled to be recovered soon.

Given the unique and demanding nature of military life, we accept that the turnover rate within the Defence Forces is probably going to be higher than in some of our other agencies. I hope I will surprise the Deputy by saying that I acknowledge the figure of 8% is too high. For that reason, we have organised recruitment and retention measures to be implemented, for example, addressing the work-life balance, conducting a comprehensive skills gap analysis across the Defence Forces, reviewing the contract of services for enlisted personnel in the context of capability requirements and appropriate age profiles, and developing and expanding the options for the direct entry of specialists and the re-entry of former members with the required skill sets.

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