Brigade reduction will have significant implications

“It would not make sense to first build a factory and only then decide what to make in it.

However, it appears that the elimination of a brigade was decided upon without a detailed analysis of what will be required of the army in the coming years and of the structural options to enable delivery.”

That was the view of Col Brian O’Keeffe, general secretary of the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (RACO), in an editorial in the most recent edition of its magazine, Signal.

He was commenting on the major reorganisation of the Defence Forces announced by Alan Shatter last December. Mr Shatter had already announced that the staff ceiling for the forces would be reduced from its authorised level of 10,000 to 9,500.

In the 1990s, when staff numbers were at their peak, there had been about 11,500 in the forces. Mr Shatter believed the revised 9,500 ceiling meant the three-brigade structure of the forces was no longer viable.

So as part of the December budget process, he announced the number of brigades would be reduced to two.

This, he said, would “free up military personnel from administrative and support functions”.

He tasked the civilian secretary general of his department, and the chief of staff of the forces, to work out the detail of how the new two-brigade structure would operate.

However, there was unease — to put it mildly — within the forces at the manner of the announcement, which Col O’Keeffe captured in his recent editorial.

The brigade reduction, he said, would “represent one of the most profound reorganisations of the army in many years and have very significant implications for hundreds of military personnel of all ranks, their families and the areas in which they currently serve”.

The RACO, he added, had “serious reservations” about the process through which the decision had been arrived at. The organisation believed Mr Shatter had chopped a brigade without fully thinking through the consequences. It questioned why Mr Shatter had not waited for the major consultation on the forces that is scheduled to take place as part of the green paper process.

A green paper is the Government’s way of kickstarting a public debate. Following the consultation period, formal proposals are then brought forward in a white paper.

Mr Shatter is due to launch the green paper by the end of this year, and produce the white paper in 2014.

His decision to axe a brigade before that process gets under way has caused consternation within the forces.

The RACO believes that decisions on the appropriate shape of the forces should have been made as part of the green paper process.

“It may be that the decision then will be the same as that made by the minister in December,” wrote Col O’Keeffe. “However, if that is the case, it will have been arrived at through a rigorous process of analysis and debate and with full knowledge of what will be required of the organisation that is to be rebuilt.”

He is not alone in his views.

Defence Force sources have insisted to the Irish Examiner the restructuring should be “parked” until the green paper process is complete.

One source goes as far as saying what is currently happening could be seen as a “negation of democracy”.

And to those who say the Defence Forces are too big even at 9,500, he is blunt in his answer: “The reality is there is no external aggressor, but the greatest threat to this state since its foundation has been the internal threat. The dissidents haven’t gone away, you know.”

But coping with terrorist threats and protecting critical national infrastructure is just part of the army’s function, he says. It was the army, together with the gardaí and Department of Agriculture, which sealed the border following the foot-and-mouth outbreak in 2001. It is the army which assists local authorities when natural disasters such as flooding strike. And so on.

But Mr Shatter, it appears, is not for turning. Although he would not comment yesterday, he told the Dáil last month there was no need to wait for the green paper. “The priority is the maintenance of the operational capability of the Defence Forces within a reduced resource envelope to underpin the reorganisation,” he said.

“In these circumstances, I cannot understand how it is now suggested that it is necessary to await the publication of the green paper and the outcome of any white paper.

“The organisational structures that were outmoded at 10,000 are even more outmoded at 9,500 personnel. I am determined to ensure the Defence Forces are re-organised to reflect the current strength ceiling as soon as possible.”