Government ambitions to establish a “credible deterrent capability” will be left “in tatters” if Defence Forces recruitment and retention is not addressed, representative bodies have said.
Lieut Col Conor King of the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (Raco) said that while increased spending in areas like equipment and housing was welcome, the Government’s own analysis suggests it is years away from achieving even its interim target for personnel numbers.
While the Government is spending record sums on defence, King acknowledged at the Industrial Relations News conference in Croke Park, a recent departmental document indicated that personnel numbers, which stood at 7,756 at the end of last year, would not reach the established (recognised) minimum figure of 9,700 until at least 2031.
“When the Commission of the Defence Force reported in 2022,” he said, “11,500 was accepted by Government as the bare minimum figure we needed for a credible deterrent capability. That includes a percentage of civilians but is based largely on military personnel.
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“Unfortunately, we saw the recent Department of Defence briefing to the new minister, Helen McEntee, which said that not only is 11,500 not achievable 2028 but the current establishment of 9,700 is not achievable until 2031. That shows how far behind we are on the personnel side.
“So we can invest all the money in terms of capability development, and that’s happening in terms of primary radar, in terms of sonar, in terms of armoured fleet replacement, in terms of accommodation upgrades, barracks and installation improvements ... that’s all great, but if we don’t get the people thing correct ...”
Asked where this left the Government’s plans, King said: “In tatters, unless we get real with ourselves [because] there’s a huge lack of urgency here in terms of implementation and delivery and that would give us cause for concern.”
He said the increased spending in the area was welcome but that Ireland was coming from a “frighteningly low base” of 0.2 per cent of GDP, far below the Europe average.
Both Raco and PDForra acknowledged the improvement to pay and conditions within the Defence Forces although both highlighted the ongoing efforts to have issues like the payment of overtime and some allowances addressed.
Gerard Guinan of PDForra said basic entry level pay had for rank and file Defence Force members had just over doubled in his time involved with the organisation, from €21,000 to €43,000 and was now far more realistic in terms of competing with other employers. He described the scale of change as “seismic”.
“We have fought hard for that, though, and the fact that we have had to do so much of that fighting in public means there’s a very public perception out there about pay and conditions within the Defense Forces that endures,” he said.
