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

The Minister of State mentioned hard data. I will give him some hard facts. Sixty-six members of the Naval Service are sleeping on Naval Service vessels while onshore because they cannot afford to rent a home. They are the bare facts and data. Recommendations were made by the Chief of Staff to shine a light on issues in the organisation, but they were dropped by the mandarins in the Minister of State's Department. "Mardarins" is an appropriate word to use, but it can be replaced with bureaucracy. The Minister of State will not shut me down or tell me what is in the confidence and supply arrangement. He contradicted his previous statement when he said no recommendations had been made when, under his leadership, he made recommendations for pilots in the Air Corps. His policy is completely contradictory. He allowed recommendations to be made in one instance and then ignored recommendations made by the Chief of staff's office. That is a complete contradiction. I will define what is in the confidence and supply arrangement and will not have the Minister of State or the Government tell me what it is. Fianna Fáil is clear that we are absolutely committed to the Defence Forces and dealing with the pay and conditions of personnel and retention issues. During the Minister of State's tenure in the Department the numbers are moving in one direction - away from the target strength of 9,500 as outlined in the White Paper. He even failed to indicate when he would achieve that target.

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