Dáil debates
Tuesday, 28 June 2022
Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions
Defence Forces
10:20 pm
Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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72. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the specific recruitment drives that have taken place in respect of school leavers and graduates from third level education; and if there were targeted campaigns in respect of areas of known understaffing in the Defence Forces. [34161/22]
Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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I ask the Minister to provide details of specific recruitment drives that have taken place in respect of school leavers and third level graduates. Are there targeted campaigns in respect of areas of known understaffing in the Defence Forces, with specific reference to engine room artificers?
Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I have previously acknowledged the staffing challenges in the Defence Forces, both in specialist and general roles, and a range of measures are being implemented to tackle these. In this regard, I recently launched the new Defence Forces recruitment rebrand, entitled Be More with the Irish Defence Forces. By demonstrating the opportunities and skills a career in the Defence Forces offers, the new marketing strategy aligns the desire to continuously improve and learn new skills with ensuring long-term career advancement.
The Defence Forces continue to engage with the education sector through career talks in schools, regularly participating in virtual career discussions through career guidance websites and hosting question-and-answer sessions on social media channels with the desired demographic. Transition year students can avail of placements within the Defence Forces to undertake various programmes demonstrating career opportunities. This also serves to raise awareness of the requirements of a career in the military.
In addition, recruitment teams frequently attend recruitment and career fairs and events to promote career opportunities within each branch of the organisation. To date in 2022, the teams have attended 22 such events. The attractiveness of a career in the Defence Forces is emphasised at such events, including the opportunity for continuous upskilling and to avail of third level education. A recently developed infographic on the benefits of a career in the Defence Forces also highlights this point.
The Defence Forces have also engaged a marketing and media partner to assist with recruitment advertising to ensure engagement with the recruitment demographic across social media and other platforms is as good as it can be. Advertisements for specialist recruitment by direct entry are placed in industry-specific publications and websites. In recent years, the scope for direct entry has expanded and a total of 12 direct-entry competitions are being utilised in 2022.
My focus is on restoring all branches of the Defence Forces to full strength, facilitated by ongoing staffing initiatives and the promotion of careers within the organisation. Furthermore, consideration of the recommendations of the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces is ongoing. I intend to revert shortly to the Government with a proposed response to the recommendations and a high-level action plan that will set out proposed timelines and oversight arrangements for its implementation. There is a lot going on but I suspect there is a lot more to come in the months ahead. Figures in respect of staffing are available at .
Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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How many of those events, engagements and media partnership relationships have resulted in people signing up as members of the Defence Forces, particularly the navy? I give credit to Niall O'Connor on his article published onthejournal.iethis evening. On a specific question relating to that article, was the Minister informed at his recent trip to Cork that there was an impending need to tie up another navy ship due to staffing shortfalls? Earlier this year, the Minister, along with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, announced €2.4 million for the Defence Forces in connection with Science Foundation Ireland. It is a clever initiative. However, there are only six or seven educational qualifications that allow a person to become an engine room artificer with the navy. What direct engagement has been had with those students on those courses in respect of pursuing a career in the navy? It appears that those students are being poached by much higher paying employers. There is also the fact that, given the pressures that crews on Naval Service ships are under, the current Government programmes in the context of tax credits are simply not viable.
Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy referred to my recent visit to Cork. I live there, actually. I live a couple of miles from the naval base, so I visit it regularly. "No" is the straight answer to the Deputy's question. I was not informed that another ship would potentially be tied up. We are seeking to decommission three ships in the Naval Service. That is well known at this stage. To replace them, we have purchased two new ships that are coming from New Zealand and will be in at the end of the first quarter of next year. We are then going to move ahead with the development of a multipurpose vessel which will be the largest ship ever commissioned in the Defence Forces and the Naval Service. Obviously, that will take several years to develop. There is a lot happening in terms of reorientating the fleet. The Deputy is correct. In order for that to work, we need to get more people into the Defence Forces or the Naval Service, which will shortly become the Irish navy. Of course, we have plans to do that. I can give the Deputy the details of all the inductions in 2021 and so far in 2022 afterwards, rather than reading them all out now. There are people coming into the Defence Forces but not enough of them, and there are too many people leaving.
Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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There is a very unusual situation in the navy. There can be several people on the same boat doing the same job but getting three different levels of pay. That is simply unacceptable. What is clear, even in terms of the seagoing service commitment but specifically in respect of the tax credit, is that one cannot penalise Naval Service personnel for not reaching 80 days at sea if the ship on which they are meant to be serving does not have the correct staff complement to be able to leave the dock.
I return to the issue of the minimum educational qualifications for a person to become an engine room artificer in the navy. What engagement has the Minister had with the Minister, Deputy Harris, in respect of encouraging the students who are currently pursuing those educational qualifications to consider a career in the navy? I refer to the establishment that is there. According to the latest figures from the Department, relating to May 2022, there were 845 personnel in the Naval Service. That is a shortage of 250 personnel. We can have all the boats in the world but they will be little use to us if we do not have the people to put onto them. As an island nation, this should be a priority.
We need our navy at sea. Our justice system needs our navy at sea, as do our fisheries, to prevent the smuggling of illicit items coming in off our coasts.
10:30 pm
Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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Thank you, Deputy. The time is up.
Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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In terms of operational capacity and human resources specifically for the navy, I highlight this as a real concern.
David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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If a school leaver or third level graduate wants to join the Defence Forces, he or she is faced with taking psychometric tests, which 60% of applicants fail. Are we missing something here? These tests include an assessment of verbal, analytical and abstract reasoning. A failure rate of 60% is extraordinarily high for people who want to join the Defence Forces. Will the Minister comment on that and indicate whether there is any intention to review the process? Given the failure rate, the tests seem to present a very high bar to jump before applicants who really want to join can get started.
Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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First, Deputy Clarke knows only too well what the qualification criteria are for the seagoing service commitment scheme. We were required to put those criteria in place to ensure the scheme was not just seen as a way of securing a pay rise. We are looking at whether we can review the qualification criteria to get more people into the scheme, which would be helpful.
Deputy Stanton has asked me before about the psychometric tests. I have had conversations in this regard with people in the Defence Forces. Two things need to happen in terms of recruitment. First, we need to maintain standards. There must be thresholds and processes to ensure people who join the Defence Forces are suitable and will thrive within the rigours of serving in uniform. We cannot just lower those standards because we want to bring in more people. Second, although I know it is not what the Deputy is asking me, there is a valid question as to whether, be it by way of psychometric tests, fitness tests or otherwise, we can look to a process whereby we assess people over time and train them into becoming more suitable, rather than having cut-off points whereby large numbers of people fall out of the system.
Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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Thank you, Minister. We are well over time on this question.
Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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We are looking at that at the moment. Ultimately, however, the decision has to come from the Defence Forces, rather than politicians, in terms of maintaining standards.