€1,270 pay boost to end exodus from naval service

Navy personnel are to be given an extra €1,270 in their wages next year in the hope it will start to halt the exodus of personnel from the naval service.

The move comes following an agreement between the minister of state with responsibility for defence, Paul Kehoe, and the Minister for Public Expenditure, Paschal Donohoe, to try and stem the ever-increasing numbers bailing out from the naval service — a crisis which has become so acute two ships were taken off operations last June because they didn’t have crew for the flagship, LÉ Eithne and the off-shore patrol vessel LÉ Orla.