Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I join Senator Ardagh in acknowledging the voluntary work done to make Ireland a wonderful place in which to live, particularly by organisations such as Tidy Towns committees.

This morning, I received a telephone call informing me that there were seven masts tied up in Haulbowline last night. That is seven Naval Service ships, of which there are eight. If one is in service in the Mediterranean and the other seven are tied up in Haulbowline, who is looking after the seas? Who is carrying out fisheries patrols and dealing with drug trafficking and smuggling? Who is dealing with the various activities that take place at sea? I am told that we did not have a crew for a single ship. If this is true, we are in dire straits. I am told that senior non-commissioned officers, NCOs, are being asked to board ships and act as able seamen in order that ships can sail. That is unacceptable and simply not good enough. Last week, we had 3,500 soldiers and veterans outside the gate with the wives and partners of Defence Forces personnel. My colleague debated the issue with the Minister to try to secure better terms and conditions for soldiers. The issue is not pay.Nobody ever joined the Defence Forces to get rich; rather, they joined to serve. It is all fine and dandy having a ship in the Mediterranean and getting all of the plaudits and fine words about the work we are doing there, but if we cannot do the job we are supposed to do at home, it is time to bring the ship back to patrol our seas. We bought a ninth ship but do not have crews to sail eight of them. The Department of Defence is giving back €27 million to the Exchequer, yet some soldiers are on the poverty line. Married quarters at the Curragh are boarded up, but they could be refurbished and put back into use such that service personnel would have an affordable rent and 47 or 50 houses would be released into the private rental market. The current approach must stop.

I am blue in the face discussing the treatment of the Defence Forces. Generally, those in uniform such as nurses and doctors are very badly treated. In recent days every Senator will have received letters about retention difficulties in the medical profession. Likewise, we cannot retain people in the Army. I am sick to the back teeth of hearing about the White Paper on Defence and how it is the blueprint for how the Defence Forces will work. If one looks at it, one will see that the word "retention" is mentioned once and that there is no strategy. There is no plan. It is time to tear up the White Paper and start again from scratch. We cannot have millions of euro worth of ships tied up in dock because there are no crews available. We cannot have young sailors coming back after four weeks at sea and having to sleep on board their ship because we have no accommodation for them. We cannot continue in the way we are going. I am fully aware that there are crises in every Department. I feel for the Ministers who are trying to resolve them because I do not know how they will be resolved. However, the Defence Forces need urgent attention.