Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Tonight's "Prime Time" programme will feature a piece on the Defence Forces. I commend PDFORRA and RACO on their excellent work on behalf of their members. The Leader will be aware that neither of these two representative bodies has the full rights of a trade union and therefore they are extremely limited in what they can and cannot do. Anybody watching what is going on at the moment hears the harrowing stories of soldiers on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year who are there at times of floods and forest fires, and are there when the nation needs people to work through 24-hour cycles.We see young men and women who, after they have paid their bills, have €27 per week left over, and that is because they are paid family income supplement. This is outrageous, especially when we see the Department, having sent 75 emails to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, seeking permission to create a new assistant secretary job in the Department at a salary of between €128,000 and €149,000 a year. What do we need the assistant secretary for? The advertisement says he or she is needed to deal with people. They only have 440 people working in the Department. The Defence Forces have their own HR department. We see a ship sold this week for €110,000. Galway County Council and Galway City Council asked for it to be handed over as a museum on the docks. We gave it away for €110,000. This is not the Government's fault - I am not saying it is - but it is a lack of oversight, and when we talk about oversight, we move into the area of national security. Six individuals are charged with the security of the State. The Defence Forces' network system went down because they had no one to manage it as the soldiers who manage it were on duty. We have 11 bomb disposal officers available out of the 35 we should have. The Defence Forces are running at 36% of their establishment in strength. The Defence Forces' loyalty to this nation is being thrown back in their face, and no one gives a continental damn. At the end of the day, someone somewhere will have to do something for them. They do not have the tools that are available to trade unionists. They cannot go on strike and they cannot withdraw their services, although they never would anyway. We need to start dealing with them and treating them with the respect they are due.