Dept of Defence ‘ignored pleas for military families’, says former social worker

The former head social worker for the Defence Forces has said he was ignored repeatedly when he warned Department of Defence officials about increasing poverty levels being endured by serving military personnel and their families.

Mervyn Ennis, who was head social worker with the Defence Forces for 23 years, said it had to be obvious to everybody how serious the situation was, especially as the two schools in The Curragh had been classified as Deis by the Department of Education as they were deemed to be in economically disadvantaged areas.