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

As Deputy Wallace stated, the recruitment and retention crisis has got so serious that the Minister of State is now ignoring military advice and recommendations that were submitted to him as part of the Public Service Pay Commission process. Those recommendations have been ignored and butchered from the report. That is what undermines the integrity and the independence of the pay commission process. The submission from that group contained a recommendation that would allow for the restoration of allowances. The Minister of State's Department butchered and diluted the report and then gave it to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, to take total control of it. The Minister of State is now again deflecting and deferring this issue to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. It is a concern that he is doing that because the Minister of State has read the report.

Throughout today's debate, I have mentioned that there are serious levels of poverty among members of the Defence Forces and that some members require social welfare payments. I also referred to the mass exit of members of the Defence Forces and the historically low levels of morale that the Minister of State is presiding over. There is also the decimation of capability. The effective strength of the Air Corps, the Naval Service and the Army is on a path to destruction. The situation is poised on a cliff edge. We need to have restoration of allowances to address these issues. The Minister of State has his head in the sand. The fact that he is sitting on the report makes it even worse.

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