Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is not a normal situation whereby there is a crisis because people are retiring. For the Minister of State to claim that is the case is shocking. It is not the reason for the crisis. According to a report published in early March, numbers in the Defence Forces dropped below 8,500 for the first time. The establishment level of the Defence Forces is 9,500, so it is 1,000 below the minimum level. Not only that, we are losing experienced and trained members who are being replaced by new recruits. It takes time and money to get the recruits to a similar level of expertise.

I stated that it is not only about pay. The Government's excuse up to now was that it could not deal with that issue because the Public Service Pay Commission was doing so and that it hoped the problem would soon be sorted out. However, there are several other issues in respect of the working conditions of Defence Forces personnel which are driving them out and over which the Government has control and which it could address, not least the long serving hours and the fact that it could implement the European Court of Justice 2010 ruling on working time which was ruled out of order as being sub judice.On issues such as Lariam and certain events in the Air Corps, the Defence Forces have greatly disrespected their staff. The Government could address these conditions. Doing so would indicate that, at least, it respects the men and women of our Defence Forces. Pay is only one part of this issue.

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