Results 5,221-5,240 of 49,960 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: We will see. An additional allowance has now been provided for,-----

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: -----but I do not have the figures with me.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I will get those figures for the Deputy and revert to him.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: This is training in Ireland for a year and then being on standby.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: There has been mandatory deployment in the past. My understanding is that it primarily occurred in specialist areas. Overwhelmingly, though, deployment is voluntary. We believe that the recall of UNDOF and the consolidation give us a much stronger capacity in terms of the voluntary dimension. In other words, deployments to missions, in particular UNIFIL, will all be voluntary.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: Other countries have different models. Some have mandatory conscription. “Conscription” might be the wrong term, but young people have to join in Finland and so on.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: Nor was I suggesting the Deputy was advocating that, but when we make comparisons, we have to be aware that other countries may have different systems. In any event, I take his point. I am very keen that we would significantly increase the strength of the RDF. It is currently at 1,407. The Army Reserve was at 1,323 at the end of last year, while the Naval Service Reserve was at 84. The...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I am referring to the amendment Act of 2021. Only one member of the RDF served overseas as part of a PDF operation in 2023. I would like to see more of that.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: Yes, I would hope so.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: There is. What happened was the original NDP allocation was much lower and spending has driven on. We have made this point. In fact, we are still in negotiations even to go above this figure because an element has been added to the NDP on which Departments are in discussion with the Minister for public expenditure. We should bear in mind that €142 million was the original figure in...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: Hold on. First, I said we are not yet finished, and part of the issue in the coming years will be the pace at which the procurement of the heavy projects, such as primary radar and so on, come through. We think the strategic airlift capacity, C295, will come in next year. One of the concerns coming out of the commission related to the need to significantly ramp up procurement capacity...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I am confident that if additional expenditure comes in by dint of, say, a project having been completed earlier, we will manage it and there will not be an issue for us.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: That is because the Minister has not allocated the additional NDP capital, as he made clear in the summer economic statement. He is putting an additional €250 million into capital but he did not allocate that at the time of the budget. Discussions are now going on between Departments in respect of that. We made clear at the time of the €176 million announcement that that...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: The point is the NDP is there. We were happy with the €176 million and that is the baseline. We have told the Defence Forces to keep going with the infrastructural projects on the campuses. We want projects to go through the system and be designed. Relatively speaking, the capital allocation for defence, compared with that for other high-spending Departments, is not huge. In the...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: No.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: They could be or it could be loose talk, but there is no way they could identify a company because we are nowhere near procurement. This is very complex and it is not something the Defence Forces have gone at previously. In fact, we may work with other countries that have done this previously and could tell us the mistakes they made or advise us not to go down a given route. We are going...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I have not seen the reports the Deputy has seen.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I will put it this way. We might get a phone call to say there is something in the Examineragain. That is my own newspaper.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I jest. It is a Corkonian expression, although they put the word "Irish" before "Examiner", but that is a long story. No, seriously, people speculate all the time.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 35 - Army Pensions (Revised)
Vote 36 - Defence (Revised) (1 Feb 2024)

Micheál Martin: I think this is important, though. There is no delay on our side in terms of resources or anything like that. I do get the sense in the Department, however, that this is a seriously challenging project. The military has to gear up. Our Defence Forces have to gear up. Our Department has to gear up in terms of capacity. We have to talk to other countries that have gone down this road just...