Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 72, 107 and 109 together.

The Commission on the Defence Forces was established on foot of a commitment in the programme for Government and its report was published on 9 February 2022. There were 69 main recommendations and, including sub-recommendations, 130 recommendations in total. The commission undertook a significant body of work encompassing wide-ranging terms of reference. It recommended significant changes to the Defence Forces and defence provision in Ireland. It covered high-level Defence Forces structures, defence capabilities, organisation, culture and human resources, the Reserve Defence Force, RDF, and funding.

Given the significant recommendations contained in the report, detailed consideration of these recommendations was undertaken over a period of five months by the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces. Following this engagement, a high-level action plan and a memo for Government were brought to the Government and approved on 12 July 2022. The high-level action plan set out the response of the Government to each of the 130 individual recommendations: accept, accept in principle, further evaluation or revert. A total of 103 of its recommendations were accepted by the Government for implementation, or accepted in principle, with 17 requiring further evaluation and a further ten to revert to Government.

This involved the approval of a move to level of ambition, LOA, 2, as set out in the capability framework devised by the commission. This will result in the defence budget rising from €1.1 billion to €1.5 billion, in 2022 prices, by 2028, which is the largest increase in defence funding in the history of the State. This will allow for the required substantial transformation and investment in recruitment and equipment that were identified by the commission. The budget for 2023 included an increase of €67 million over the 2022 budget for defence. This demonstrates the Government’s strong commitment to support the transformation of the Defence Forces into a modern, agile military force, capable of responding to increasingly complex security threats.

The high-level action plan set out a total of 38 early actions to be completed within six months of the Government decision. A comprehensive written update on all 38 early actions was published on 23 March this year, and includes the status of each of the 38 early actions in tabular form. At that time, more than 80% of the early actions had been achieved. Progress continues on the remaining early actions. Approximately 90% have been achieved to date, with the remainder at an advanced stage and due to be completed shortly.

The Government noted that, in light of the commission’s report, there is an urgent need for HR and cultural transformation in the Defence Forces and this will be prioritised. The high-level action plan identified the recruitment, through an open process, to the new senior-level civilian positions of head of transformation and head of strategic HR for the Defence Forces, as early actions required to progress this transformation. I welcome the recent appointment of Mr. Brian Molloy to the position of Defence Forces’ head of transformation. The competition to select the head of strategic HR has also been recently concluded and the process to appoint the successful candidate is nearing completion.

A key early action, and a key output from the opening phase of the transformation programme, the development of a detailed implementation plan, is at an advanced stage and is expected to be published in the coming weeks. When published, it will set out the approach to implementation for each of the 130 recommendations. Effective reporting mechanisms were put in place for the 38 early actions and, once the detailed implementation plan has been published, similar reporting mechanisms will track the progress of all the commission’s recommendations. More generally, the strategic framework we are putting in place to drive the commission's recommendations through will also be an important enabling mechanism for delivery of the independent review group’s, IRG, actions.

My priority now is to ensure that there is one strategic plan for the transformation of the Defence Forces, fully understood by everyone, which has the appropriate governance and reporting mechanisms, and is properly resourced. Furthermore, the Government has agreed to progress the 13 recommendations in the IRG report, including the establishment of a statutory inquiry to investigate whether there have been serious systemic failures in dealing with individual complaints relating to interpersonal issues, including but not limited to sexual misconduct.

As I indicated in answer to previous questions, I have had detailed discussions with the women and men of honour groups, and a variety of other representative organisations, in respect of the draft terms of reference and the optimum modality of the inquiry, including whether it will be a commission of investigation or an inquiry under a public tribunal of inquiry Act. Those consultations are continuing. As I said, it is hoped I will be in a position to conclude this before the summer recess.

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