Dáil debates

Wednesday, 12 June 2019

Defence Forces: Motion [Private Members]

 

3:55 pm

Photo of Lisa ChambersLisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At the rate the Government is going, we will not have Defence Forces that are functioning in the future. It is not news to the Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe, that he is not flavour of the month with the Defence Forces and has not been for quite some time. Instead of leading his Department, he is being led. He has consistently failed to display a vision for the Defence Forces. The Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, is the Minister for Defence, but he has given all duties in that regard to the Minister of State. However, the Taoiseach has no problem paying lip service to the Defence Forces, hopping in and out of Army helicopters or flanking himself with armed officers when there is a good photo op and it helps with the spin unit he likes to progress. How bad does it need to get before the Minister of State and the Government do something to rectify the crisis in the Defence Forces?

The damage that has been caused to the Defence Forces by the Government and its predecessor will take the best part of ten years to fix and reverse, as it is so widespread. The loss of the corporate knowledge held by highly skilled trained personnel who have left the Defence Forces en masse cannot be replaced overnight. In fact, it will take years to so do. That means that the Defence Forces are struggling to maintain basic duties, man our naval ships and fly our aeroplanes, very basic tasks that our citizens assume are being carried out. The Representative Association of Commissioned Officers, RACO, the Permanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association, PDFORRA, the Reserve Defence Force Representative Association, RDFRA, and the wives and partners of members of the Defence Forces have been telling the Government the same story consistently for years. In the first four months of this year, 256 personnel walked away from our Defence Forces because they had no other choice. The Minister of State has been in his brief for long enough to understand that these people cannot simply be replaced. It takes years to grow the corporate knowledge and military skills to the level we require.

When the Minister of State is asked about the Government's retention policy, he reverts to talking about recruitment simply because it does not have one. Recruitment and retention go hand in hand, but one does not replace the other. They are distinct and separate policies. There is very little point in taking people in one door and having them walk out another just as fast, but that is what is happening. We are losing recruits who cannot stand to stay in the organisation for more than a year or two because the pay and conditions are so poor. As Deputy Jack Chambers stated, almost 3,500 members left the Defence Forces in four years, which is a staggering number for the Minister of State to mull over. His Department handed back almost €27 million, but he never explained how that can happen. Surely, that money should be redirected to retention policies.

I wish to briefly touch on the Reserve Defence Force. I spent 13 years growing up in that organisation and that has stood to me. The Government has destroyed the organisation. The Minister of State asked me for ideas and solutions three years ago when I was Fianna Fáil spokesperson on defence. I offered them to him, but none were acted upon. Other Members also offered solutions to the Government but it has acted on none of them. The organisation is on its knees. It is upsetting to think that it may never recover. The Minister of State has presided over that decline.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.