Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

On International Women's Day I would like to remember the women who influenced my life. I would like to remember my mother, my eight sisters, my wife, my daughter, my granddaughters and my daughters-in-law. They are very important people and I would not be standing here today without them. I would also like to remember the women in uniform who serve everywhere. They serve equal to men and some of them get a rough time.

I ask for the Minister of State at the Department of Defence to be brought to the House as soon as possible. Today I received information that four senior officers are to resign from the Air Corps, three of whom are instructor pilots. This will devastate the Air Corps. They are all fixed wing instructor pilots, which means they train people on the Casa. The Minister of State has tried to put in place a retention system in order that we do not lose people, but this is a crisis. We lost half a ship's company from the Naval Service last month and now we are about to lose four of the most senior flying officers in the country. I understand there are two captains and two lieutenant colonels. We simply cannot afford to continue losing people.

The memory of rescue 116 is sitting very firmly in my mind and has done ever since the fateful night when the aircraft was brought down. We cannot allow the Defence Forces to continue to stumble from disaster to disaster. I have spoken to the Minister and I believe he is trying his damnedest to put things right. We need to hear from him where the impediment is, who is blocking it and why money is not available to retain personnel. What will it cost to recruit three instructors?

Even if we brought back retired officers, they cannot become instructors immediately. Some 107 cadets passed out of the Curragh recently, but those going into the Air Corps cannot jump into an aircraft and start flying. It will be five years before they are qualified to fly on their own and ten years before they are eligible to fly the Casa. We heard a lot about the Garda on the Order of Business today and I resent the manner in which we are watching it wash its dirty linen in public. Clearly, some people at the top have serious questions to answer but most are decent people.

What bothers me is that what is going on in the Defence Forces is going on behind closed doors. Nobody seems to be aware of what is happening. We recently saw photographs of soldiers in Blessington who had to be brought from Dundalk to clear the roads of snow. This is outrageous. Fuel consumption in Finner Camp alone has increased by 600% because soldiers are travelling from Donegal to do barrack duties in Dublin. This is now beyond a joke.

We need the Minister of State to come to the House so we can get to the bottom of whether it is the Government, Civil Service or senior Army officers who are causing the problem. I am not one to put the blame on anybody. I met the Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe, and believed everything he said to me when he said was trying to put things right. I want to give him an opportunity to put his position on the record.