Martin wants to bolster Defence Forces with civilian personnel

Defence Minister Micheál Martin said the current strength of the naval service is 770, which he described as 'very serious' and 'way too low'.

Defence Minister Micheál Martin wants to bolster the Defence Forces with more civilian personnel, extend mandatory retirement age and have proposals ready by the end of the year to introduce the Working Time Directive to the country’s military.

Mr Martin said he and senior military management are looking at a number of initiatives to address the retention and recruitment crisis amongst an ever-depleting Defence Forces, and especially the Naval Service, which is under huge pressure due to a chronic lack of personnel.

He visited the naval base in Haulbowline, Cork harbour, where he met with senior officers and spoke with enlisted personnel.

Mr Martin said the current strength of the naval service is 770, which he described as “very serious” and “way too low". It should have a minimum of 1,094 personnel.

The service only has four ships left operational after being forced to decommission or ‘mothball’ others due to the personnel crisis.

The Irish Examiner understands that things have got so bad that on some occasions there is only one ship out patrolling our EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) — which is 10 times the size of the country’s landmass.

'No immediate quick fixes'

Mr Martin said he, his department and senior military management are “looking at all options” to strengthen the Defence Forces, but admitted there “are no immediate quick fixes". 

He said he was looking at “more civilianisation” in the Defence Forces, not as replacements for servicemen and servicewomen but as “additional support". Mr Martin is also looking “at stretching out” age limits for mandatory retirements.

This is crucial to the Naval Service in particular, where many highly experienced enlisted personnel are forced to retire at 50, although the vast majority are still fit enough to do the job.

However, senior non-commissioned officers in the army and senior petty officers, their equivalent in the Naval Service, can work until they are 56.

Mr Martin said the decline in new recruits would have to be addressed and there was likely to be a bigger push in schools to get more young people to join the force.

He added the work/life balance had to be addressed and he wants the introduction of the European Working Time Directive in the Defence Forces “accelerated". 

He said he hoped to have proposals ready for this by the end of the year.

Some military sources doubt it can be introduced any time soon because they are so short of personnel. However, Mr Martin pointed out the same thing was said to him some years ago when he was minister for health and the Working Time Directive was introduced for healthcare workers.

Mr Martin said some infrastructure improvements have been made at the navy's headquarters and more are planned.

He said "substantial investment" would be undertaken in the years ahead to improve the 'dockyard' facilities at the base and there had also been significant investment in providing more accommodation there.