Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The first issue I want to address is the failed system to encourage retired officers of the Air Corps to return. A massive system was put in place to encourage them to come back but, to my knowledge, one lieutenant colonel and one captain have applied to come back and be commissioned. In inviting people to return, the authorities have not ring-fenced the appointments to prevent those returning from progressing to the next rank. If, for the sake of argument, a commandant returns and a vacancy for a lieutenant colonel arises, that commandant, who may have been out of the system for ten years, is suddenly eligible to apply for promotion to the post. That is grossly unfair to those who remained in the Air Corps. In the teaching profession, those who leave teaching and return not only return at the bottom of the scale but do so at the bottom of the new scale. It is grossly unfair to entice people who have left and enjoyed a period in the private sector, possibly earning big money with some of the commercial airlines, to come back and start closing off promotional posts for those who have remained loyal to the State and stayed behind. More important, who dreamt up this idea? Who dreamt up the idea that the only way we can solve the problem of losing members of the Army, Air Corps and Navy is by asking people who have retired to come back? Where is that coming from? What sort of thinking went into that? We should have the Minister of State with responsibility for defence in here to discuss this. I ask the Leader to do this for me.