Smith under fire on defence review

The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, has come under mounting pressure to salvage the Price Waterhouse review of the Naval Service and Air Corps.

Implementation of the review, which was accepted in principle by the Government, seems unlikely after the Minister's decision not to proceed with the appointment of an independent chairperson. Yesterday a delegation comprising the Chief-of-Staff of the Defence Forces, Lieut Gen Gerry McMahon, the Flag Officer Commanding the Naval Service, Commodore John Kavanagh, and the General Officer Commanding the Air Corps, Brig Gen Patrick Cranfield, met the Minister to try to convince him to reverse his decision.

The Department of Defence declined to comment on the outcome of the meeting. Lieut Gen McMahon, who retires at the end of this week, is understood to be particularly concerned about the need for an independent chairperson for the implementation committee.

He is also understood to be convinced of the need for an independent chairperson for the Army's own implementation plan, which is now back on track following passage of the Defence Act.

While the outgoing Chief-of-Staff warned in a speech to the Policy Institute in June that resources for the two wings should not be at the Army's expense, he is said to be "fully supportive" of an expanded role for them, given the increasing demands of drug interdiction, fisheries protection and search-and-rescue.

Earlier this week the Minister defended the move to drop the idea of an independent chairperson. He told The Irish Times that an independent chairperson would "indicate a lack of trust" and emphasised that he was committed to acting on the review as soon as possible.

A draft press release to accompany the review's publication, seen by The Irish Times, had specified this independent post to head an implementation group comprising the Secretary-General of the Department of the Defence, the Chief-of-Staff of the Defence Forces, the GOC Air Corps, Flag Officer Commanding the Naval Service, and representatives of the Departments of the Taoiseach, Marine and Finance.

This paragraph was dropped from the final press release, in which it was stated that implementation would be "consistent with the White Paper on Defence".

The row is the second blow to the Price Waterhouse review, which was published 18 months late and which recommends increased staff for the Naval Service, an eighth ship as part of a £235 million re-equipment plan for both services, and greater cost efficiency, among other measures.

The simultaneous commissioning of a White Paper on Defence has been interpreted by the representative associations, RACO and PDFORRA, as an attempt to defer all decisions for another two years.