Page 56 - Signal Winter 2019

| CATHAL BERRY |
job somewhere else. And they are. We are the Thin Green Line- and we are getting thinner. This is as a result of the wholesale underpayment and short-changing of military personnel that is continuing.
What effect is this having, in general, on the operational capabilities of the organisation?
While each of these forced early retirements is an individual human tragedy in its own right, it is the second-order effects on critical state services that is the real catastrophe. Firstly, my understanding is that a quarter of our naval flotilla is tied up indefinitely for lack of crew. This is not normal. What other employer would allow €50m worth of productive hardware to lie idle with no apparent plan to ameliorate the situation? It’s incredible. So much for sweating your assets. Secondly, gaps in the naval patrol plan are further exacerbated by a lack of pilots and technicians in the Air Corps Maritime Squadron. This has significantly depleted the country’s search and rescue capability while simultaneously reducing our ability to deter, detect and intercept all types of smugglers landing in Ireland and by extension the European Union. If I may use a medical analogy Ireland is like an unvaccinated child in a classroom with 27 other students. Reducing the herd immunity of the group and compromising the wellbeing of the other 27.
It is also important to remember however that it wasn’t always like this. 2008 was the high-water mark for the Defence Forces. At the time there were three army brigades, 10,500 personnel and we were leading the hugely successful international stabilisation operation in Chad. Unfortunately, it’s been downhill since then. The severe and disproportionate cutbacks may also reduce the likelihood of Ireland securing a seat on the United Nations Security Council. A country that has no spare capacity to deploy additional troops due to personnel shortages would have
little credibility at the table of such an international forum. For instance, both Canada and Norway have well-resourced armed forces and look after their military communities exceptionally well. While not the only factor considered it could give them an edge over us when it comes to selection.
All organisations face challenges in terms of retaining their best talent-why should the Defence Forces be treated differently and what is unique about the issues created by the retention crisis?
Unlike other organisations, difficulties retaining the best talent in the Defence Forces are primarily being driven by the push rather than pull factors. This was highlighted in the recent University of Limerick Climate Survey. If there can be a net increase of 600 customs officers in the Revenue Commissioners in the last 12 months then why can’t the same happen in the Defence Forces? It is particularly heart-breaking for serving personnel to see the organisation that they love crumbling while the Department of Defence hands back millions of euro unspent every year1. They have the means to solve this crisis but they lack only the will.
For mid-ranking officers, what is the impact on a daily basis of the lack of adequate manning levels on operational capability of units?
1 Recently the Minister informed the Oireachtas that only
4m was surrendered to the Exchequer between 2014 and 2018. He did confirm, however, that pay savings of €137.1m were diverted to ‘address spending pressures elsewhere in
the Vote Group’ (Defence or Pensions). The Department has also confirmed that the net surrender to the Exchequer in that same period was €92.3m, comprising Gross Savings (including offsetting of Pension shortfall) and Appropriations in Aid.
Comdt Berry meeting displaced persons in Chad while on deployment with EUFOR.
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