Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

The Defence Forces have undergone significant changes in the past ten years. They have probably witnessed more rationalisation than any other group in the public service. The wage cuts which all public servants have endured hit the Defence Forces particularly badly. Many families in the Defence Forces are in receipt of family income supplement and hurting very badly. Uprooting families will, as has happened over the past number of years, be traumatic for them. There have been ten barracks closures, as outlined by Members, since 1998. As everybody knows, previous Governments led by Fianna Fáil destroyed the public finances and led our country practically into receivership. As a result we have had to undertake a searching reappraisal of every aspect of public expenditure.

The legacy we have inherited is so dreadful that no area of expenditure can be excluded from the review. I regret that the Defence Forces are not exempt from the review. There are few opportunities to trim defence spending without impacting on front line delivery. The potential to protect essential collective training and reduce unnecessary overheads, such as barrack management, administration, maintenance and security, is something that will have to be examined. It affords the Minister the possibility of maintaining the Defence Forces at their current level of approximately 9,500.

We are told the primary driver of barrack reorganisation and redeployment is the efficient and effective delivery of military capabilities. The Defence Forces are now at the lowest level since the 1970s. This is a result of the previous Government's proposals and actions over the past ten to 12 years. It is very hard to understand how people from Fianna Fáil can come into the House and condemn barrack closures, which we believe are pending, after it closed 12 barracks. The top brass and senior personnel in the Defence Forces are leading the change for operational purposes. I would like that position to be changed. I hope the Minister will listen to the various suggestions on where barracks may close, but in view of the facts I have outlined I am not very hopeful.