Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

The closure of barracks in 2009 resulted in the relocation of 595 personnel. St. Bricin's Hospital in Dublin was also closed by a Fianna Fáil Government. The closure of the four barracks has been achieved and the consolidation of St. Bricin's is linked to the provision of modern medical facilities within the existing departmental property portfolio and will take time to implement. While the closure of the barracks and the sale of the properties has provided funding for investment, it was never the sole driving factor for the consolidation of defence infrastructure. The primary driver for the re-organisation of barracks and personnel redeployment is the efficient and effective delivery of military capabilities.

Since 1998, a total of €84.98 million has been realised from the disposal of six of the barracks that have been closed. Agreement in principle has been reached to dispose of two more of these. Notwithstanding the extremely depressed state of the property market, it appears that the round of barrack closures effected by Fianna Fáil in 2009 will ultimately yield less than €5 million. The consolidation of barracks into a smaller number of locations was a key objective of the previous Government's White Paper on Defence and it was recommended in many reports. It remains a key objective of the ongoing defence modernisation programme to maximise the effectiveness of the Defence Forces.

There are few opportunities to trim down spending on the Defence Forces without impacting on front-line delivery of services. It is self-evident that concentrating personnel in fewer locations provides the potential to protect essential collective training and to reduce unnecessary overheads in terms of barrack management, administration, maintenance and security. It also affords the Minister for Defence the possibility of maintaining the Defence Forces at their current level of approximately 9,500. That is a priority for this Government and the Minister has put this on the record on numerous occasions. It is his responsibility to ensure that taxpayer resources allocated to his Department are used in the most efficient way and, similarly, that the assets at our disposal are not wasted. Does Fianna Fáil understand the phrase "not wasted"? The party was well used to wasting money in government. Whatever Fianna Fáil might say, we are discussing the use of limited resources effectively and productively to ensure we get the best return for the taxpayer. Fianna Fáil never thought of the taxpayer or workers going to their jobs day in, day out who spent their money wisely. It was happy enough to be flaithiúlach with their money over a long number of years.

Given our grim financial state thanks to the failure of Fianna Fail to capitalise on the gains made during the Celtic tiger years, the Government is faced with making many hard and tough decisions across the public sector. The Department of Defence is no different in this regard. We have been forced into a position of making hard and difficult decisions and we cannot stand still. We have to make the hard decisions sooner rather than later if we are to get out of the current economic climate. No decision has yet been made, as the Minister has indicated clearly on numerous occasions.

The Government will not shy away from its responsibilities in this regard no matter how difficult the decisions that must be made. There is no logic in maintaining barracks where there is no operational requirement for them in the first place. For Fianna Fáil to try to argue otherwise is not the way to put the point across and it is being downright dishonest to the House and to the people in the Visitors Gallery. It is typical of Fianna Fáil carry on. It avoids the hard decisions but then again Fianna Fáil is a past master at that. It is simply putting the parochial interest before the national interest and that has always been the hallmark of a Fianna Fáil Government. It is the same in opposition; it puts the parochial interest before the national interest. That is what got this country into the position it is in today. It put parochialism before the country and our national flag. I do not believe it ever thought of the national flag and the sovereignty of our country.