Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Defence Forces for their massive efforts and work in their peacekeeping duties over the years. They are held in high regard all around the world.

The recruitment, retention and remuneration of the members of the Defence Forces have been the subject of extensive public and parliamentary debate over many years. One of the main issues the Defence Forces members continue to face is low pay. The Defence Forces personnel are at the bottom of the public sector pay scale. The main problem is the ban on industrial action. The Army does not go on strike; that is part of its code. Much of the blame for this is laid at the door of the Department of Defence. The Department operates a policy of coming in under budget each year. It does this by keeping the number of soldiers in the Army below the desired strength and by underpaying soldiers and other members of the Defence Forces. That is wrong and needs to be addressed. In this day and age, soldiers or others working in the Defence Forces need proper pay to support their families and put food on the table. The Minister must recognise that. If the Government wants to keep the members of the Defence Forces going, it needs to pay them properly. It is as simple as that.

It has been highlighted to us that sometimes soldiers have to sleep in their cars because they cannot afford to drive them home and drive back again in the morning. That is wrong and needs to be addressed. Defence Forces personnel will work and do their duties, as the personnel before them did, but they need to be paid. It is as simple as that. The Government will have to do that. We are told that more than 3,000 members of the Defence Forces left between 2014 to 2020. In the end, they will drift away completely. They are highly skilled. I know a member from Kilgarvan, Daniel Cremin, and another from Gneevgullia, Breda Sullivan. They are proud to be members of the Defence Forces but they are finding it hard to survive on the pay they are getting. I ask the Minister to address the issue. It is as simple as this: if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. If the Government is not going to pay the people in the Defence Forces, it not going to have them. It is as simple as that.

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