Cuts to Defence Forces must stop, officers warn
They have also vented their anger at government plans to remove two days of their annual holidays given to commemorate the Easter Rising and the Jul 11 signing of the Truce in 1921.
Colonel Brian O’Keeffe, president of the Defence Forces’ officers association (RACO) made the comments at his organisation’s biennial delegate conference in Co Wicklow.
He said the numbers serving in the Defence Forces had fallen 28% to fewer than 9,500 and 16 installations had closed. “The organisation cannot be expected to continue to cannibalise itself to fund equipment or to fill gaps elsewhere in the defence estimates (budget). The funding model for defence is an issue that must be addressed in the forthcoming white paper on defence.”
He said that while the association had entered into the Haddington Road Agreement, and would continue to honour it, his organisation regarded it “as little more than a mugging of our members by our employers” and warned the Government not to come looking for any more cuts in pay and conditions.
Government plans to eliminate the practice whereby some civil servants are entitled to days off to attend race meetings and festivals, also included the two days a year given to troops, airman and sailors to commemorate the 1916 Rising and the Truce, he said.
“It is insulting to the Defence Forces to see the commemoration of these significant events in the history of the [military] organisation and the State equated with days off to attend a race meeting. We accept that this is not what was intended, but it is an unfortunate consequence of the blind application of a policy of standardisation across diverse organisations.”
Meanwhile, Col O’Keeffe said it was imperative Regulation A7, which provides for the possible withdrawal of the commission of military personnel who have become bankrupt, was removed from the Defence Forces rules book.
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