Officials of PDFORRA, which represents the non-officer ranks in the Defence Forces, yesterday met the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, and expressed annoyance that there was no consultation over the closure of six barracks.
Mr Gerry Rooney, deputy general secretary of PDFORRA, said his members were shocked when they heard the announcement. It was not until 2 p.m. yesterday that it was informed officially of the closures and that they were to be effective by September 28th. "Not only was it done without consultation but there is so little time for it to be carried out," Mr Rooney said.
PDFORRA was perturbed and angry that the policy of decentralisation which applied to the Civil Service had been put into reverse for soldiers. The Department seemed to have chosen barracks for closure which would cause the minimum disruption.
"Personnel are unhappy. People have put down roots in communities and we are unhappy with the way it has been done and the way we have been treated. We should have been consulted," he said.
Until its meeting with the Minister yesterday, it had only read about the closures in newspapers. The Minister told it the Cabinet had already made the decision. Four PDFORRA officials attended the talks.
"We expressed our annoyance to him. The Minister already knew we would be opposed to the closure. The Minister was very matter-of-fact," he commented.
The PDFORRA national executive will meet this morning to consider the closures. Mr Rooney said there were other items on the agenda but he expected the closures would be the only issue.
The Minister said £50 million would be saved by closing the six barracks. Some of that would be going towards refurbishment of existing barracks and it would welcome that, Mr Rooney added. Other money would help to pay deafness compensation claims.