Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Chathaoirligh. The Minister of State is very welcome. I want to raise the issue of defence spending this morning. We learned in recent weeks of plans by the Naval Service to purchase a new multi-role vessel, MRV. In recent years, the Naval Service has purchased three new ships, with a fourth ship on order, for a total of over €250 million. This additional MRV is likely to cost over €200 million, bringing the cost of five new ships to almost€500 million. Yet at the same time, the Naval Service is selling off its older ships for a pittance. The LÉ Emer, the LÉ Deirdre and the LÉ Aisling were sold for €320,000, €240,000 and €110,000, respectively. The point is that these ships could have been refurbished for a fraction of the cost of these unnecessary new warships. Ireland should only need naval vessels for fishery protection, emergency rescue and prevention of smuggling. As a neutral state, we have no requirements for aggressive warships. The misuse of the Irish Naval Service was highlighted when the LÉ William Butler Yeats replaced the LÉ Eithne in the Mediterranean for Operation Sophia, which unfortunately will result in the redeployment of Naval Service vessels from primarily humanitarian search and rescue to primarily security and interception operations. Indeed, this move has been condemned by Médecins sans Frontières and others, and is highly inappropriate for a neutral country.

Taxpayer funding for the Defence Forces is necessarily limited when we have 700,000 people on our hospital waiting lists and 8,000 homeless, including, as I heard this morning, 3,124 children. What I am trying to do is make sense of what is happening here, because over the years of the ever-growing crisis in housing and health, we have discovered that the Department of Defence has been spending money like confetti on warships. In my city of Limerick tonight, we will have 154 homeless children sleeping in hotel beds. We had 719 patients on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick in the month of October. Can the Minister of State explain why, at the time of the worst housing crisis in the history of the State and the worst health care crisis since the 1940s, her Government cannot sanction the money to build houses or hospital wings, but has been able to sanction almost €500 million in funding for new warships?Unfortunately, this replacement will result in the redeployment of Naval Service vessels from primarily search and rescue to primarily security and interception operations. This move has been condemned by Médecins sans Frontières and others and is highly inappropriate for a neutral country.

Taxpayer funding for the Defence Forces is necessarily limited since we have 700,000 on our hospital waiting lists and 8,000 homeless, including 3,124 children, as I learned this morning. I am trying to make sense of what is happening because during the same years as the ever-growing crises in housing and health we discovered that the Department of Defence has been spending money like confetti on war ships. Tonight, in my city of Limerick, a total of 154 homeless children will sleep in hotel beds. A total of 719 patients were on trollies in University Hospital Limerick in October. Can the Minister of State explain why, at a time of the worst housing crisis in the history of the State and the worth health care crisis since the 1940s, the Government cannot sanction the money to build houses or hospital wings but has been able to sanction almost €500 million in funding for new war ships?

Even if we decide the money has to be spent on defence – I do not accept that argument – then other points arise, including low pay and conditions in the Army. People are voting with their feet. My colleague, Senator Craughwell has been very articulate on this topic on several occasions. People are leaving the Army because of low pay. The Air Corps search and rescue service was in such a state of under-funding that it was unable to support the tragic rescue operation in Blacksod Bay in March. There is serious under-funding within our defence sector while we are spending vast amounts, hundreds of millions of euro, on new naval ships. I am obliged to conclude that it must be connected to our ever-increasing complicity in the new EU military battle plans.

I am seeking answers to these questions. I am unsure of the position in the constituency of the Minister of State but I have described what it is like in my constituency. We have a shocking health and housing crisis. Yet, the Government consistently believes that it is better to spend money on war ships than on housing for people or on their health. It makes no sense.