Military forces 'not fit-for-purpose', Raco warns

Raco general secretary Lieutenant Colonel Conor King.

Our military forces are near an all-time low strength and “not fit-for-purpose” at a time when global political turmoil is probably at its most dangerous since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

Defence Minister Simon Coveney and Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Seán Clancy will be told today urgent action is needed to rebuild the Defence Forces, which has barely 8,000 personnel.

The previous bottom-level strength was deemed to be 9,500, but the Government accepted earlier this year a report by experts that it should have a minimum of 11,500.

The stark warnings about the personnel crisis amongst the ranks of Ireland’s military will be made by the Raco, the association which represents the 1,100 of the country's officers, when it meets today for its annual conference in Naas, Co Kildare.

Despite the recommendations contained in the Commission on the Defence Forces report, Raco says it still needs to be convinced that there is a "meaningful commitment to reform, reinvigorate and restore a depleted Defence Forces which is currently not fit-for-purpose".

'Deep-rooted problems'

Raco general secretary Lieutenant Colonel Conor King said while the current situation is not great, there are solutions if the political will exists.

“The only KPI (key performance indicator) that counts is the strength of the Defence Forces, and by any measure, we are witnessing a failure in policy. There are six motions tabled at our annual delegate conference this year that capture the deep-rooted problems in the Defence Forces right now,” he said.

“These all relate to significant problems with fundamental service conditions, such as a total lack of respect for the working time of members, a failure to staff operational units, and inferior career progression and [inadequate] pension arrangements that have been well documented but unfortunately ignored to date," Lieut Col King said.

Raco president Commandant Martin Ryan said his association had consistently highlighted the inadequate and deteriorating officer manning levels in Defence Force operational units.

“This impacts on health, safety and wellbeing of our members by reducing mentoring, supervision and governance, and it increases risk [of serious accidents and injuries],” the officers said.

“This high instance of vacancies and persistent dysfunctional cycle of turnover remains unacceptable and is one of the primary reasons why officers continue to leave the Defence Forces in such high numbers. Raco will call on the Chief of Staff to place the manning levels of units on the strategic risk register,” Comdt Ryan added.

Working Time Directive

Delegates will discuss a number of issues facing the officer ranks. They want the Working Time Directive (WTD) implemented, as do their sister organisation, PDForra — which represents enlisted personnel.

Some officers are working up to 70 hours a week, double and treble-jobbing to fill gaps caused by ever-increasing vacancies as highly trained personnel seek better pay and conditions in the private sector.

Plugging these gaps is causing more stress and adding to the numbers leaving.

Raco is also losing specialist officers, who are actively being head-hunted for their skills by other sectors and the association will say the Department of Defence needs to increase their allowances to retain them.

Doctors fit into this bracket and the number of medical officers quitting the Defence Forces because pay is far better in the HSE and the Prison Service has now reached a critical juncture.