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| RACO BDC 2017 |

Ben Tonra is a Professor at the UCD School of Politics White Paper, Strategy & Results
and International Relations. Speaking on the challenges
facing the Defence Forces, he said; “Critical limitations In the 2015 White Paper on Defence, the recruitment,
arise from human resources; material (pay and conditions) training, development and retention of suitable military
is most obvious but ideational limitations are also critical: personnel were described as “essential factors in devel-
what value is placed in the experience and engagement oping military capabilities required in order to discharge
of Defence Forces personnel? You can’t have professional the roles assigned by Government. It also stated; “Having
armed forces but pay them and treat them as you might regard to the capability and professional competency re-
conscripts. Pay and treat them as professionals or they quirements of the modern Defence Forces, a review of HR
will have no option but to leave. The Defence Forces will policies in relation to recruitment, training and education,
fulfil their given mandate but effectiveness is inevitably performance management, reward systems, and retention
compromised by limitations of raw capacity: in human and retirement policies alongside age profiles for person-
and material terms. Critical issues exist in turnover, reten- nel across the Defence Forces will be conducted in the
tion, multiple command assignments/double and treble medium term. The Defence Forces HR policies will build on
hatting and associated command pressures; the loss of what has been achieved already.”
expensively trained expertise and the levels of experience
being lost has reached a critical level. There is a serious As said in the RACO General Secretary’s address to con-
danger of degrading capacities and this is not offset by ference, “this is all very fine strategy.” However there has
recruitment initiatives. The Defence Forces need highly been scant detail as to how the Department of Defence
trained and highly motivated men and women – they need actually enables or indeed tests this strategy, or what test-
resources to do their job, not lip service.” ing methodologies are used to evaluate HR policies.
“Other than continually highlighting how many are targeted
ISME CEO Neil McDonnell also delivered a presentation for recruitment, no breakdown on exit figures is presented
on whether representation for Defence Forces personnel or analysed. In stark contrast, the UK Defence Committee
was fit for purpose. His robust presentation laid bare the are requested to present Armed Forces HR data and their
state’s attitude towards remuneration for its military pro- analysis annually to parliament supporting their manning
fessionals, with data revealing it has the lowest pay of any level results with rationale or recommendations. In their re-
Public Service sector. This is exacerbated when it is com- cruitment and retention overview for example, the Ministry
pared to the pay awards made to members of An Garda of Defence (MoD) analyse figures based on what is classed
Siochána, who are also non-unionised. The accompany- as “acceptable turnover rates” of trained personnel. They
ing article on Defence Forces Industrial Relations high- measure the recruitment and retention relative to a “man-
lights the detail of those awards and the discrepancies in ning balance”, a tolerance at which they benchmark at
how both these arms of the public service are treated. He +1% to -2% of actual trained strength required. This ap-
highlighted the massive benefits that the State receives proach identifies issues and evaluates policy on a continual
from the Defence Forces when compared to the minimal and responsive basis,” said Lt Col Naughton.
cost, and he also displayed at what level internationally
Irish defence spending is ranked. It is the lowest in the On the first day of Conference, RACO Asst Gen Sec Lt
EU, or indeed anywhere in Europe, and at 0.34% of GDP, Col Derek Priestley gave a presentation on the Office of
is currently ranked below Luxembourg and just above Manpower Economics in the UK, part of which is made
Equatorial Guinea. up of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body (AFPRB), which
makes recommendations to Government on issues of re-
muneration. He gave considerable detail on the conditions
of service which UK military personnel face, and while far
from perfect, how a body like the AFPRB can help create a
fully nuanced picture of the lives and needs of military ser-
vice professionals and their families. They do this through
executive level recruitment of experienced management,
and actively seeking input and feedback from organisa-
tions and bodies within the defence community and from
visits to military personnel themselves. As a result they are
able to provide considered, evidence based findings which
are fully transparent and published online. They also have
the flexibility to respond to issues such as retention crises
and to try to address any dysfunctional turnover.
Lt Col Derek Priestley, Dep Gen Sec RACO

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