Fears 800 could have left military by the end of the year

Military representative associations fear more than 800 members could leave the Defence Forces this year, the highest number ever.

The Defence Forces press office has confirmed 407 people have left the military in the first half of the year. Traditionally, the second half of the year accounts for even more departures.

At the end of June, 289 had bailed out of the army, 74 from the naval service and 44 from the air corps.

The number discharged in 2015 was 574. This increased in 2016 to 679, then 742 in 2017, but dropped marginally to 731 last year.

“More people leave in the second half of the year, hence if we have lost 407 in the first half of 2019 we can predict number will be way more than 814,” RACO deputy general secretary Colonel Derek Priestly said.

“This is before we can gauge the impact of the PSPC (Public Service Pay Commission) Report into recruitment and retention. While briefings are ongoing, the initial reaction from the membership has been quite negative with many expressing the concern about the numbers leaving.

“Many members fear the €10m suite of measures (increased allowances) in isolation will not stop the exodus from the Defence Forces.

“That said, the fact the Taoiseach’s rescue package, the High Level Implementation Plan, for the rescue of the Defence Forces contains strict guidelines for implementation does offer some hope to serving personnel,” the senior officer said.

He said the exodus of young officers was particularly worrying. Before the recession, on average, they served 12 years in the military before leaving for jobs elsewhere.

Now they are typically serving between five to seven years.

This is being blamed on a measure introduced in 2013 by the Department of Defence for new entrant officers which gave them lesser pension entitlements.

The exodus of highly trained personnel continues unabated.

PDForra president Mark Keane, whose association represents enlisted personnel, said the exodus was likely to increase this year as a lot of people were entitled to take 21 and 31-year pensions.

“That’s because 21 and 31 years ago there were major recruitment drives as we had a lot of personnel shortages in those years,” Mr Keane said.

“The government needs to address the core issues of pay and conditions to make it attractive again for people to have a career in the Defence Forces.”

He said the Army will still have to commit to overseas missions, guarding Portlaoise jail and explosives escorts. The Naval Service will have to carry out patrols, while the Air Corp has commitments to search and rescue operations, maritime surveillance etc.

“This will be done even less personnel and this would have implications for work/life balance. We can’t keep doing more with less,” Mr Keane said.