TÁNAISTE AND DEFENCE minister Micheál Martin has defended the allocation for the Defence Forces in the budget and bemoaned the negativity of people who are criticising his handling of the staffing crisis.
During a press conference this morning Martin called out former army officer and independent TD Cathal Berry and the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (RACO).
Both Berry and RACO criticised the allocation for Defence in Budget 2024 yesterday as did PDFORRA which represents enlisted personnel.
This morning Martin said that he “fundamentally disagrees with the assertions” made by Berry.
He listed out measures such as access for enlisted personnel to healthcare assistance costing €13.8m – he also stated that there will be further “capital allocations” once it is agreed across Government departments.
And added: “I think there is a need in commentary on Defense Forces matters to have perspective and fairness and not to always have a narrative of negativity and I think it needs to be balanced where progress is made.”
The Tánaiste explained that the war in Ukraine had been causing trouble of supply across the global defence industry.
“I don’t accept the narrative of the way it’s developed in Defence. I’m in defence now about nine months and I’m not going to respond in knee jerk ways to how the narrative emerges from the representative associations.
“I will discuss with them I will engage with them, but I’m not going to be led along the nose saying we need two helicopters, please deliver that please deliver that. It has to be much more coherent,” he added.
In the Dáil last night Berry said that as wars were happening across Europe and the Middle East that Ireland was not able to defend itself.
The former Army Ranger Wing officer also criticised the fact that just one helicopter and one ship was available to carry out the MV Matthew mission. He said he believed that it would be impossible to carry out such a mission in twelve months time due to the retention crisis in Defence Forces staffing.
He referenced a pipeline incident between Estonia and Finland and said that there were claims the damage was suspected to be sabotage. He said Ireland has no way to protect undersea cables or pipelines and that natural gas supplies were vulnerable.
Berry also said that a naval tax credit designed to get people to stay in the Irish Naval Service was unchanged from last year.
“Not even a remote attempt to get our ships back to sea,” he said.
Berry also said that the undertaking of increased funding for Defence was falling short – he said the €1.35 billion allocation was not keeping pace with inflation up to 2028.
He said that this would need to be €2 billion which was what former Defence Minister Simon Coveney had said.
“This landed very poorly, it has gone down like a lead balloon,” he said in the Dáil.
RACO had criticised the allocation also yesterday and said the 400 recruitment target did not meet what was needed in new personnel levels.
They also criticised that there were no sign of the “promised Naval Service retention measures” such as a specialist Patrol Duty Allowance for sea going sailors.
Today Berry, speaking to The Journal, said that he has an “excellent working relationship” with the Tánaiste and said that he had received some clarifications over night.
“I always acknowledge the incremental improvements that have taken place over the last few years, but the fact remains that they are simply not working.
“It is just not sustainable for our armed forces to have a net loss of about 500 personnel every year. The Defence Forces are bleeding out and none of these incremental measures, either individually or collectively, have been successful in stopping the haemorrhage. I’m certainly not going to mislead the Dáil by erroneously pretending that they are,” he said.
The Government had announced yesterday that they were funding the Defence Forces for a recruitment of 400 people this year.
According to figures released by the Department of Defence there is currently 7,760 military staff across the Naval Service, Army and Air Corps.
Martin, this morning admitted, that the target set previously of 11,000 personnel in the Defence Forces was “going to be very challenging”.
He said he had given a figure of 400 personnel to be recruited because that was a “realistic” expectation but added that if they can recruit more that will be funded.
He claimed that the Defence Forces were struggling to recruit the required personnel to reach the target due to the buoyant economic situation but said the Government were offering good starting wages to attract candidates.
“We have to see what other measures we can do to make it even more attractive for retention and a fruitful career for people,” he added.
The Minister said that the Defence Forces equipment will improve in time and that further measures would be needed to solve the retention challenge.
Martin said that the “issue is with procurement” and that there was a long process to get that process of purchasing right.
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