Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the provisions in this Bill, which formalise and give full effect to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is not before time that we are doing this. I also strongly welcome the formalisation of the authorisation of a force commander of an overseas operation to exercise operational control over Defence Forces' contingents.

It is true to say that Members across the House are all proud of the significant role that the Defence Forces play in international peacekeeping.

As Members are well aware, not a day has passed since 1958 without Irish peacekeepers on duty. Indeed, in recent years, members of the Defence Forces have played roles at the highest levels of the United Nations, including Irish Brigadier General Maureen O'Brien who now serves as acting force commander with the UN in the Golan Heights in Syria. Hundreds of members of the Defence Forces are now serving overseas on peacekeeping missions in various parts of the world. Across the House, we are proud of that.

The Minister referenced section 4 of the Bill when speaking in the debate yesterday. That section addresses re-enlistment and the Minister told the House that the section could be removed because it has already been dealt with in Covid-19 legislation. However, the issues around re-enlistment and retention of Army personnel have not been dealt with. Deputy Howlin yesterday raised issues about the value of taking young people into the Army and providing them with skills and training, and how valuable that has been, and that also must be dealt with.

In that context, I want to raise the fact that we are awaiting the publication of the review of technicians' pay and grading that was promised as part of the Croke Park agreement. I understand that review has been completed but it needs to be published. It is important that we publish it as quickly as possible. We are losing many skilled members of the force who are leaving for better conditions in the private sector, and this retention issue is impacting morale in the Defence Forces and on our operational capacity. We must retain skilled technicians. It makes no sense to train them and lose them after they have become skilled. There is also a need to implement the recommendations of the high-level implementation plan, and the working time directive should be made applicable to the Defence Forces, as has been promised in the programme for Government.

The last time there was a discussion around the Defence Forces, the outgoing Minister of State gave indications about the issue of membership of congress. In 2018, the European Social Rights Committee found that the Government's refusal to allow members of the Defence Forces to join the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, was a breach of the European Social Charter. The issue of the ageing out of members of the Defence Forces because of arbitrary cut-offs also needs to be addressed.

How we value our Defence Forces reflects on the country as a whole. We have all been aware in recent times, with Covid and Brexit, that there is never any time when we can take issues of national security for granted as they apply to the Defence Forces, food security and anything else. There is a tendency for people to take these things for granted, but moments of crisis show more than ever how important those things are. While supporting this Bill, I ask the Minister to give those issues consideration. I appreciate that he is highly focused on Brexit at the moment, but these issues also need consideration.

See this speech in context