Results 4,001-4,020 of 18,639 for speaker:Brendan Smith

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: Deputy McLoughlin asked a question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: I thank Commandant King. I call Deputy Ó Snodaigh and then Senator Craughwell.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: I thank the Senator. Does Commandant King wish to speak? We are not discussing broadband provision.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: The Senator has made the point very well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: I thank Commandant King. Some months ago the Chief of Staff appeared before us and was as forthcoming as it was possible for him to be. Obviously, he did not enter into the political realm, something we fully understand, but he was very forthcoming. As Commandant King is aware, the Garda Commissioner is the Accounting Officer for An Garda Síochána, whereas the Chief of Staff is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: When the Chief of Staff appeared before us, I presume it was the first time a Chief of Staff had ever appeared before an Oireachtas committee. When we requested him to attend, he readily agreed to accept our invitation. I express our appreciation to him for his engagement with the committee. All of my colleagues attended the meeting and engaged constructively with him. He indicated to us...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: To be fair, most people would take on more responsibilities if they could, so I did not ask him.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: Commandant King can respond to the Senator's question later. He might finish responding to the one with which I was dealing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: We specifically did not ask the Chief of Staff that question because we did not want to put him in that position.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: Has it been a subject of conversation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: I am sure RACO engages in dialogue with other defence forces. Commandant King might let us know if he comes across a different structure with regard to the Accounting Officer position.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: We speak for ourselves. We have been positive in this engagement.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: All colleagues present and others who were here earlier want to be positive. This committee under my stewardship has probably been more active on defence issues than other committees in the past. We needed to be active on them and that would be the view of the members of all parties and none on this committee. Commandant King might respond to Senator Craughwell's brief question and then I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: I appreciate that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: I appreciate that. I thought somebody following these proceedings might think that we were not active on these issues.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: Commandant King might respond to Senator's Craughwell's question concerning ICTU.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: I thank Commandant King for those comments. I will take final brief supplementary questions from Deputy Jack Chambers and other colleagues.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: I thank the Deputy for those questions. I have a final question. The briefing from the Department indicates that the strength of the Permanent Defence Force at the end of March was 8,847 whole-time equivalents. The witnesses have remarked to us that in reality the strength is nearly 1,000 lower than that, taking into consideration duties and the training of others. I ask them to go back...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: Mr. King is saying that the operational capacity of the Defence Forces is nearer to 7,000 at this time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Retention of Defence Forces Personnel: Discussion with Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (30 May 2019)

Brendan Smith: On behalf of the committee, I thank the witnesses for their presentation and attendance today. They have painted a very bleak picture of the situation at all ranks in our Permanent Defence Forces. They referred to very low morale and raised questions regarding the well-being of officers, soldiers, sailors and aircrews. They also spoke about the loss of corporate knowledge, expertise and...