Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As always, the Minister of State is very welcome. I wish to address some of the key points in this Bill. The external oversight board, EOB, has been mentioned by almost every speaker at this point. We welcome the fact it is going to be set up on a statutory basis, but we in Sinn Féin still have issues with the Secretary General's ex officio membership on that oversight body while representative associations are not included. The Tánaiste is represented on the EOB by the Department's Secretary General in an ex officio capacity. Therefore, the representative associations should be afforded the same status. I have noticed there seems to be a consensus across all parties in this regard. Therefore, I urge the Minister of State to listen and consider this in time for Committee Stage. If there is a consensus on this among colleagues across the group, then it is time for the Minister of State to listen.

Representative associations have proven themselves to be professional organisations. They are well suited to advocate for their members, and they have a valuable contribution to make in terms of reform and oversight of the Defence Forces. They are an important voice and should be represented on the external oversight body. It is an issue my party colleagues have raised in the Dáil, and I will bring forward amendments again on Committee Stage so the Minister might reflect further on this position.

We welcome the legislative basis for representative associations to affiliate to ICTU, although again I share the concerns of the previous speaker about some of the language around that, particularly that language of the Minister imposing conditions. We were concerned the Minister had chosen to exclude military judges and prosecutors from membership thereof as well as giving himself broad power to prescribe other positions within the Defence Forces for membership. We welcome this section's removal. However, the Minister must now do the same as a matter of policy.

There is a particular section of this Bill I find bizarre, which is the new section 2A under section 24(b).` This Bill attempts to introduce new prohibitions on the freedom of expression of members of our Defence Forces. There is absolutely no need for this. PDFORRA, which represents 6,500 enlisted military personnel, stated clearly that members of the Defence Forces feel this is an attack on the right to highlight concerns they have about pay and conditions, terms of service and what happens in their communities. It seems like a draconian measure to a problem that does not really exist, and I do not understand where the need for this provision is coming from.

This brings me to mention one of the biggest issues for our Defence Forces, which is pay and conditions. Sinn Féin is supportive of implementing measures needed to restructure, rebuild, restore confidence in and modernise our Defence Forces and in particular, those measures that have been outlined by the Commission on the Defence Forces. While there have been some changes, these do not go far enough to address the concerns that have been raised. The level of pay is so bad that Defence Forces members are forced to apply for the working family payment. The fact the State supplements wages through the working family payment is surely an acknowledgement that Defence Forces personnel are underpaid. Nearly four years after this Government came to office, the recruitment and retention crisis continues, with more people leaving than joining every year since Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael came to office. There are 7,504 members against an establishment figure of 9,600 and a level of ambition, LOA, 2 target of 11,500. While a series of reports and implementation plans have been published, we have yet to see adequate progress in the implementation of the working time directive, which is one of the most straightforward and impactful things the Tánaiste and Government could do.

We can see the impacts of this Government's inaction. Our Naval Service can currently only put a single ship to sea against an ambition of being able to put out nine double-crewed ships. This saw 89 patrol days cancelled in 2023, increasing from 49 in 2022. There were also occasions when the Naval Service was unable to assist in operations in which it should otherwise have been able.

Most recently, as the Minister of State knows, Ireland withdrew from the UNDOF mission to the Golan Heights. The return of 133 soldiers ends more than a decade of Irish participation in the UN peacekeeping mission, which saw more than 2,700 Irish personnel deployed to the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights. The Tánaiste deprioritised a UN-mandated peacekeeping mission in favour of an EU battle group for which he cannot even secure an adequate complement of volunteers to take part.

The practical impacts of the recruitment and retention crisis are compounded by Government failures to meet the level of capital investment required by level of ambition 2 of the Commission on Defence Forces, which Government missed by €70 million in 2023 and has missed by the same amount again this year, further delaying the acquisition of crucial equipment such as primary radar and subsea monitoring capabilities to adequately monitor and surveil sky, sea and land.The legacy of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in government is a weakened defence force and the squandering of the opportunity presented by the Commission on the Defence Forces to address the key issues. I hope the Tánaiste will consider our amendments on Committee Stage and come up with better excuses for wanting to muzzle members of the Defence Forces and take away their voices. Perhaps he can explain why it was so important to include a provision in this regard in the Bill.