Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would like to take this opportunity to address the issues around our Defence Forces as a whole. We are here today with a Bill before the House that seems merely to address housekeeping issues around the Defence Forces and how they operate, specifically while overseas. While it may be internationally accepted that companies deployed overseas will fall under the command of the regional troops, I certainly hope that this is not an underhanded way of signing off on our neutrality down the line.

I was a member of the Army Reserve and can easily say that I gained hugely from my time there. I gained experience in teamwork skills and general life skills that have truly benefited me.

We trained and worked hard and pushed ourselves physically and mentally. That being said, I, along with many of my counterparts, signed up on the understanding that Ireland was and will remain a neutral State. This is something we must continue to ensure.

In the overall context of our Permanent Defence Force, the lack of basic pay and conditions is appalling. Section 4 of the Bill makes provision for the re-enlistment of previous members of the Defence Forces. While I accept that from time to time expertise and experience is required, I feel this is only a requirement in our Defence Forces due to the brain drain in recent years. We are struggling to attract young recruits into the Army, Air Corps and navy due to the extremely poor pay and conditions available to them. That is the reason we are struggling to recruit and keep members, and is the only reason we need to make provision to bring back retired members to fill these gaps.

The aeromedical service in Athlone has come under pressure due to a lack of suitably qualified pilots in the Air Corps. Naval vessels are moored in Cork due to the lack of staff to enable them to go out on patrol. This is simply not good enough.

Members of the Defence Forces recently came to the rescue of people in distress due to flooding, gorse fires and more. In our country's time of need, our soldiers could be relied upon. They are often seen as our heroes in our time of need, but they do not get paid accordingly. When the Pope visited soldiers they were expected to sleep in desperate conditions and were fed substandard meals, but worst of all they were being paid substandard wages while on duty. This is simply not good enough and we can no longer accept it. We need to address these issues, and it would have been much more important to have raised them on the floor of the House.

See this speech in context