Naval officers fill in for junior ranks

Junior officers in the naval service were regularly ‘acting down’ to fulfill duties normally carried out by ordinary and able seamen due to staff shortages months before two vessels were docked due to staff shortages.

The Irish Examiner has learned that junior officers, mainly aged in their mid to late 20s, were being brought on to ships to plug gaps because of a lack of people of lower ranks.

This practice was used from around last Christmas to March when Raco, the association which represents officers, protested to senior commanders, saying the junior officers were losing out on valuable on-the-job training as a result.

PDForra, which represents enlisted personnel in the Defence Forces, said this had also been the case, with even senior petty officers plugging gaps which were normally filled by lower ranks.

Reservists were also called in to plug gaps, although their numbers have dwindled.

PDForra president Mark Keane, who works at the naval services headquarters on Haulbowline Island, said this had been a regular occurrence.

“Previously the chief petty officers would have been multi-tasking anyway, but because of manpower shortages they were multi-multi-tasking,” said Mr Keane.

“This doesn’t add to retention as those who are left behind are worked to the bone.

It is not uncommon for some of these personnel to be working 70 hours-plus a week as a result.

The naval service needs a minimum crew of 36 per ship for health and safety reasons.

Mr Keane said that, on some occasions, this could only be achieved by asking more senior personnel to come in and fill gaps created because of a shortage of lower ranks.

He said his association had repeatedly warned the Department of Defence for a number of years that there was a real manpower crisis developing in the naval service.

“That seems to have eluded them somewhat,” he added.

Flag Officer Commanding the naval service, Commodore Michael Malone, recently decided recently to tie up two vessels, including the fleet’s flagship, LÉ Eithne, because of critical crew shortages.

A row then broke out after the junior minister with responsibility for defence, Paul Kehoe, claimed that the vessels were simply being called off patrol for routine maintenance.

While Commodore Malone decided that it would be prudent to have the vessels refitted while they were tied up, his main reason for putting them in dry dock was due to a shortage of crews.

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that LÉ Róisín is also out of action.

The ship went in for what is termed a mid-life refit just after Christmas and remains tied out in Verolme dockyard.

The Irish Examiner has learned that it may not be back on patrol until the end of the year.

This leaves the Naval Service with six operable ships, as the LÉ Róisín was commissioned in 1999, and is now 20 years old. The average life expectancy of a ship is 35 years.