Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Three years ago, the Minister of State received the University of Limerick climate survey of the Defence Forces. Both the qualitative and quantitative surveys showed an organisation heading towards a crisis. A total of 55% of respondents felt their pay did not reflect the work they did, 38% felt the pay was inadequate, and 23% wanted to look elsewhere for employment. I understand that while the Defence Forces has an establishment of 9,500 members, this has fallen to 8,800. This indicates a serious crisis in retention across all services. Given the serious nature of this crisis, what steps have the Minister of State and his Department taken to address these concerns, particularly the retention of personnel in the army, Air Corps and Naval Service?

See this speech in context