Minister has `no problem' with increasing Naval Service staff

The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, said he has "no problem" with a recommended increase in Naval Service staff, following the first meeting of his consultative group.

The Minister has asked the Flag Officer commanding the Naval Service and the GOC Air Corps to prepare their own implementation plan, based on the recent Price Waterhouse review. This plan would "cover all aspects of the operations and will feed into the White Paper on Defence," the Minister said.

Mr Smith faces a battle on one of the key aspects of the Price Waterhouse review - the proposed increase in Naval Service numbers. The increase is being resisted by the Army, given the impact this may have on its numbers within the context of an overall ceiling on the Defence Forces.

The Price Waterhouse consultants had cited 1,144 Naval Service staff, and an additional complement for the eighth ship, as being necessary to meet the requirements of fishery protection, search and rescue and other non-military tasks. Although the Minister accepted this figure, some Defence Force sources believe he was not speaking with the support of Cabinet.

The Minister announced recently he was seeking 70 additional recruits to the Naval Service, but to date none has been taken in.

In a statement issued after the first consultative group meeting, Mr Smith said the development of the Air Corps and Naval Service were "vital to the Government's overall requirement to have value for money military services which meet the needs of the Government and the taxpayer".

Fine Gael's defence spokeswoman, Ms Frances Fitzgerald, has accused the Minister of stalling on the consultants' report. Her party believes £70 million in capital expenditure and £44 million in current expenditure - before EU support - must be earmarked by the State over the next 10 years if the Naval Service is to cope with increasing pressure to patrol Ireland's 200-mile exclusive economic zone.