Sailors quitting navy over stress of lengthy sea patrols

A TOTAL of 75 people applied to leave the Navy in the first three months of this year, and the union which represents sailors claims the situation will get worse unless the Government implements an agreed maximum time on sea patrols.

PDFORRA, which represents around 1,000 members of the Naval Service, claimed yesterday that morale is very low and that the strain put on sailors and their families is intolerable.

The union’s general secretary, Gerry Rooney, said that a White Paper on Defence clarified the level of service required by the navy and how it was to be implemented, but this, he stressed, was simply not happening.