Soldiers’ rations, radar systems and naval guns are among a number of areas to be curtailed by Defence Forces to meet military spending cuts.
The Department of Defence has been ordered to find €12 million in cost savings over the next year as part of a €466 million levy being imposed across Government departments to offset a spending overrun in the Department of Education.
One of the first items to be cut is food for young officers studying in university as part of their military training. Earlier this year the Department of Defence agreed to pay for rations for students studying in the University of Galway.
The arrangement would have seen officers being allowed breakfast and dinner in their barracks and to take a packed lunch to college.
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However, they have now been told this will not be permitted and that they will have to pay for their own food. Officials estimate this will save between €50,000 and €100,000 a year.
The Representative Association of Commissioned Officers, which arranged the deal with the Department, expressed frustration over the move.
“It is disappointing that this group of officers had been seen as an easy target by the department, and ironic that support to Defence Forces members’ education has been withdrawn due to the actions of the Department of Education,” said the association’s general secretary, Lieut Col Conor King.
Spending on equipment for the EU presidency has also put pressure on defence budgets, leading to delays in several procurement programmes, according to military sources.
However, a small number of big-ticket items, including a €500 million deal to procure land-based radar systems from France are proceeding.
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Military leaders have also been told that as a result of pressures on defence budgets there are no funds currently available to advance a programme to fit naval ships with air search radars to detect airborne threats.
This delay has caused significant concern among naval officers due to the growing reports of hostile drone activity by EU security services. The lack of funding for maritime radar systems has been placed on the Defence Forces’ strategic risk register as a result.
A programme to replace the 20mm cannon on naval ships with more advanced radar-guided guns has also been paused, along with several other naval improvement programmes.
“We have been told that all spending has to be paused, barring something that could prevent a ship going to sea,” said a military source.
A plan to acquire a new fleet of “super medium” helicopters for the Air Corps has also been delayed.
The Department of Public Expenditure gave the Department of Defence the option of making cuts to expenditure on salaries to meet the levy. However, in a submission to the Public Accounts Committee, the Department of Defence said such a move would be counterproductive in light of ongoing efforts to expand the size of the military to 11,500.
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Defence officials also said the requirement for spending cuts would create “significant additional pressure” on efforts to implement the programme of reform laid out by the Commission on the Defence Forces.
It will also “reduce flexibility to address any emerging or unforeseen operational exigencies,” they said.
Sinn Féin Public Accounts Committee chairman John Brady said the levy had resulted from “the failure of the Government’s initial budgeting process, which left the Department of Education short of the funding needed to deliver vital services.
“We now learn that ...other departments are having their plans disrupted and are scrambling to find cuts. This is no way to do business.”
He said the impact it would have on the Defence Forces transformation programme was “of particular concern”.
In response to queries, a Department of Defence spokesman said the 2027 defence budget had not been agreed and engagement with the Department of Expenditure was continuing.
