Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Tóibín. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I want to put on record my acknowledgement that the Minister has remained in the House for the totality of the debate. I commend him on that because it does not often happen. I know it is difficult to do with the pressures of time under which he is working.

An tUachtarán na hÉireann, Mr. Higgins, has said that serving men and women have a right to expect an income that provides for themselves and their families. Several speakers have pointed out that, sadly, many members of the Defence Forces with families are relying on social welfare assistance through the working family payment. We must ensure that no member of the Defence Forces is in a position where he or she has to rely on social welfare assistance to meet his or her day-to-day needs. The existing situation is a far cry from where we should be in terms of a minimum wage, never mind adequate pay for the work members of the Defence Forces do. As a former Minister, I discussed this issue with the Minister, Deputy Coveney, at Cabinet on a number of occasions in the past. He is well aware of my particular view on it. It is deeply disappointing that personnel are leaving the Defence Forces due to poor pay and conditions, many of whom would rather remain within the forces. The issue is not just to do with pay but also allowances and conditions. I acknowledge the announcement the Minister made last week in regard to personnel who are travelling abroad on UN work and have to self-isolate for 14 days in advance of their deployment. It is a small but very significant and positive step.

Part of the challenge we face as a consequence of the issue with pay and conditions is that we have fallen far short of the figure of 9,500 which should be the established strength of the Defence Forces. That is really putting pressure on personnel in the many roles they undertake. Coming from a midlands county, I have seen at first hand how we have had to rely on the Defence Forces during severe flooding. We were damn glad to have them available to us and to make use of their field ambulances to take people out of marooned situations and transport them to hospital. We all saw that type of work being done by the Defence Forces throughout the country during Storm Ophelia.

On a daily basis they patrol our territorial waters, which are nine times bigger than the island we reside on. It is impossible to do this even with the fleet they have, not to mention that some of those ships are tied up in Cork Harbour.

We are going to have additional challenges such as the one the Minister is facing at the moment in Brexit. That brings into focus again the operational capacity, particularly in Dundalk barracks, Finner Camp and Custume Barracks in Athlone. We need to look at the capacity of those three barracks to deal with the challenges we could potentially be facing post-Brexit at the end of the year. While it is Government policy to ensure we do not have any type of a border - and we are all determined about that and supportive of it - we need to have a contingency in place. That contingency will have to ensure sufficient resources, capacity and capability are available in those three barracks in particular.

When the 4th Western Brigade was abolished in 2012, the then Minister, former Deputy Alan Shatter, gave a commitment to the late Deputy Nicky McFadden that 1,000 personnel would be maintained in Custume Barracks, Athlone. It is imperative that that commitment is maintained insofar as is humanly possible. I accept that numbers have fallen across the board but particularly in the context of Brexit we need to have that capacity there. Colleagues have mentioned in the past, as have I, the practice of personnel from Dundalk, Finner and Custume Barracks travelling in and then getting in vehicles and travelling to Dublin to carry our their duty is completely unsustainable and is an issue we really need to address. That practice is demoralising for our Defence Forces.

On of the huge successes of the Defence Forces has been the operation of the air ambulance at Custume Barracks which became operational back in 2012, if I recall correctly. I have noticed recently that overflights do not seem to be as frequent as they used to be for some reason. I tabled a parliamentary question to the Minister for Health on this. It has been referred on to the National Ambulance Service and I will probably get a reply this side of Christmas. There is a lot of talk locally about the operation of the air ambulance and I would like the Minister to clarify whether the facility and service in Athlone are fully operational and available to the National Ambulance Service seven days per week.

An issue related to the air ambulance service, which I have taken up with the Minister and his predecessors, is the ability to provide a night-time air ambulance service. I am aware that a night-time air ambulance service would require specifically designated landing sites and those sites need to be lit up. I am aware also that at the time of the establishment of the service, An Garda Síochána in counties Roscommon and Longford identified landing sites throughout both counties suitable for air ambulances operating at night. These were a number of GAA pitches which had plenty of light. Individuals who would turn on the lighting and ensure the facilities were open were designated. This issue needs to be looked at again, particularly for the communities in west County Roscommon, east County Mayo and north-east County Galway which have a very inferior ambulance service. They are essentially dependent on a single ambulance based in Loughglynn. That service is totally inadequate to meeting the needs of a very large geographic area in the middle of Connacht. It is important we have a properly resourced road ambulance service. We should consider the extension of the air ambulance service to night-time operations.

During the previous debate on this Bill, my neighbour, Deputy Joe Flaherty, mentioned the siege of Jadotville and a number of Deputies also referred to it. I was thinking during the contribution last week that it is a long time since former Deputy Dinny McGinley and I were sitting on the Government benches raising the issue of the need to acknowledge the role played by each and every one of the individuals present at the siege of Jadotville. I commend the work of the previous Government, in particular the former Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, who was determined to ensure those personnel were given the acknowledgement they deserved. The last piece in this jigsaw is the provision of individual medals for bravery to the eight living members of the Defence Forces who served at Jadotville and had been recommended for distinguished service medals. I earnestly encourage and ask the Minister to acknowledge those eight individuals and ensure they receive those medals.

The final issue I will raise relates to the role Defence Forces personnel are playing in contact tracing. If the Minister cannot provide me with a response tonight, I would appreciate it if he could revert to me with one. During the lockdown and subsequently, Defence Forces personnel played a very valuable role in contact tracing. My understanding, however, is that those Defence Forces personnel have returned to their former roles and are not currently providing that service. I raise this specific issue because we in the west have a particular problem with speech and language therapists. Three quarters of speech and language therapists in counties Roscommon and Galway are currently involved in contact tracing. Prior to the lockdown, there was a four-year waiting list for speech and language therapy in counties Roscommon and Galway. At present, 1,049 children in these two counties are waiting for access to speech and language therapy and three quarters of our speech and language therapists are involved in contact tracing. That is not a good use of resources. I would appreciate it if, as an interim measure pending the employment of the new contract tracers the HSE is currently recruiting, the Minister could assist by ensuring the redeployment of some Defence Forces personnel to contact tracing. We could then release speech and language therapists to do the job they should be doing, namely, working with children and young people across Roscommon and Galway. Will the Minister explore the feasibility of that and address this particular problem which is wholly and grossly unacceptable?

I commend the Bill. I and my colleague, Deputy Berry, will support it and the Minister in his capacity as Minister with responsibility for defence.

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