Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State and others have rightly praised the role of our Defence Forces in the public health effort. They have done fantastic work in areas like testing and tracing. Obviously, there is the bravery of forces on missions in Lebanon, Congo and elsewhere.

Does that praise not ring a bit hollow when we consider the failure to really support our military personnel with decent pay and conditions? The figures are damning, because of the poor levels of pay, the cuts in allowances and the failure to restore pay and the many allowances cut in the period of austerity. The strength of the Defence Forces stands at 1,000 fewer than it needs to be. We have 610 unfilled vacancies at junior non-commissioned officer, NCO, ranks and 77.6% of establishment at the rank of captain. We no longer provide accommodation for many of our military personnel caught up in the housing crisis that grips the rest of the country. We also refused to refurbish the married quarters that could provide affordable accommodation for our military personnel on or near bases.

We do not have the airlift capacity to bring troops back from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, mission. In addition, we had the ignominious situation where military personnel out in a very dangerous situation in Chad essentially had to hitch a lift with the French in order to get home. As I understand it, they had to leave their weapons behind and lose all their ammunition because they had to go on a civilian aircraft to get back as we do not have that airlift capacity. I welcome that we do not have a jet to whisk Ministers and taoisigh around the place, but would it not be a good idea to have airlift capacity for our military personnel, for the many thousands of our citizens stranded all around the world during the Covid-19 crisis and for mercy missions we might wish to undertake? It seems pretty crazy to me that we have the bizarre situation where we do not have that key airlift capacity. Let us back up the rhetoric of support for our military personnel with decent pay, conditions, accommodation and the airlift capacity to bring them home.

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