Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The reality is that whatever has happened to date is not working. We have been talking about the haemorrhaging of staff for a very long time and we are now at a critical level. The Tánaiste would have read the remarks of Lieutenant Colonel Conor King at the annual delegate conference of the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers, RACO, when he said that given the lack of action on crucial retention measures, the lack of implementation, the lack of respect and consideration afforded to commissioned men and women who are to be relied upon to drive the clearly identified changes required, we now know that we have an almost Sisyphean task to get back to a strength of 9,500. The task of getting to 11,500 is almost beyond reach. Is it the Tánaiste's objective to reach 11,500 members of the Permanent Defence Force and how is it going to happen? We are going backwards now, with two additional ships mothballed.

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