Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too am thankful to the Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe, for the help that has been given to us. I also thank the Taoiseach who has been in charge of the Defence Forces for the briefings he has given us. My first thoughts today are with our officers who are serving abroad in various parts of the world in a noble cause, that is, peacekeeping duties, who are unable to get home. The possibility of getting home will be greatly diminished. Many of them are due to come home to their families and loved ones in the near future. In addition to worrying about themselves, they have the added worry of worrying about their families at home and the families at home are worried about them.

I am critical of the overall scheme. It is a pity it took something like this for the Government to rightly recognise the prowess, honour and prestige of our Army over the decades, serving all over the world but above all at home. It is shameful for this Government and previous Governments to have the Defence Forces in such a depleted state at this point in time. The Defence Forces were treated with disdain. They pleaded with us and begged us but, as we know, they could not protest. They appealed again and again. Some of our Naval Service ships were taken out of service recently because of a lack of personnel. There were also threats to the Air Corps and even threats to the rescue and recovery helicopters due to the exodus of pilots and highly trained personnel. That was shameful.

It is good to see the Naval Service ships now being brought to ports and used as test centres and, hopefully, treatment centres. It is excellent that we have the Civil Defence and all the volunteers. I mention the Civil Defence every time I speak because its members are just unbelievable in terms of what they do on a daily and weekly basis. We know they are called on very often. It is great to see former soldiers being interested in returning in spite of the bad taste in their mouths due to the lack of recognition by the Government of their roles and the low wages. It will be good when the system is up on military.iebut what is the delay in getting it up for people who want to return? We are a couple of weeks into the crisis now. Some 40 minutes ago the Minister of State said it would be up by the weekend. The measure also relates to the Reserve Defence Force. The Forsa Cosanta Áitúil, FCA, as I knew it, had a very proud record and then the name was changed but the conditions were not any better. I salute its members as well. I know many of the officers, many of whom are gone to their eternal reward. The FCA afforded training to young men and women over the decades who wanted to enlist in it. They got fabulous training in service to their country as well as a sense of pride.

There was also physical training, firearms training and aspects of search and rescue training, as well as providing a supporting role to the Garda Síochána. It was a brilliant organisation over the years. I recall some school friends of mine who joined the Defence Forces and stayed there until they were forced to retire. The Army cadets, recruits and apprentices must be remunerated. We cannot expect them to be paid a pittance to do the work. They want to do the work. That is why they joined up. They are willing, ready and able to do it but they must be rewarded financially to some extent. They cannot be on the bottom rung of the ladder and expected to do it without support. That is important.

I believe this crisis will pass. Ní neart go cur le chéile. Gach duine ag cabhrú le daoine eile. We are all in it together. We must ensure that the Army gets it rightful treatment. With no disrespect to the Minister of State, there should be a full Minister, as there used to be in the past, for defence. Our Defence Forces are very important. They must be supplied with the personal protective equipment. They cannot be expected to be short on that because they will be in many different situations. Hopefully, with us working together, we will not see the scenes we have seen in Spain and Italy with army trucks carrying away coffins to be cremated. That would be unthinkable. We have some time here in hand. Why is there a delay in putting up information on military.iefor people who want to go back to the Defence Forces?

Our thoughts and prayers are with our soldiers facing this and our officers abroad serving in the United Nations in different parts of the world.

See this speech in context