Officers' association says little has changed to halt decline of Defence Forces

The Representative Association for Commissioned Officers told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence that strength across all the Defence Forces continues to decline and government plans to date don’t show anything likely to halt this trend. File photo: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

The Government is failing to halt the continuing decline of the Defence Forces and has been criticised by the officers’ association for plans which they say lack meaningful investment, reform and a roadmap to save the country’s military.

Leaders of RACO (Representative Association for Commissioned Officers) told a sitting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence on Tuesday afternoon that little has changed in righting problems which it previously highlighted to the same committee in 2019 and 2021.

Just days after the Naval Service, the Air Corps and the Army Ranger Wing (ARW), along with members of An Garda Siochana and Customs, seized the largest-ever shipment of drugs off the Irish coast, RACO said it's time for government to decide whether they are finally going to take the security of our State seriously and resource and retain Defence Forces personnel.

The association told the committee that strength across all the Defence Forces continues to decline and government plans to date don’t show anything likely to halt this trend.

RACO representatives said the only true metric of this human capability of the Defence Forces is its strength versus establishment.

They said this is the one statistic that cannot be fudged or spun. The Defence Forces, they said, are at 80% of current minimum strength (9,500) which has been agreed to by successive governments for several years.

However, they are at just 66% of the 11,500 minimum strength recommended by experts who compiled the Commission on the Future of the Defence Forces report. This was accepted by the current government as the goal it must set and RACO said the government’s “obsession with recruitment over retention is simply not working”. 

The officers said the Defence Forces continues to endure the lowest employment rights in the State, with personnel willingly accepting the restrictions on civil liberties that are part and parcel of military service; but this can’t be completely taken for granted.

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They said the Government should adequately compensate Defence Forces members for the sacrifices they and their families make.

RACO believes it is time for real cultural transformation, and that starts with changing the habit of a lifetime and listening to the employees' voice, rather than continuing to sideline it.

The association told the committee its members believe that the government has the power to quickly fix many of the retention problems that their members face, but wonders whether it has the will.

Small retention measures such as Patrol Duty Allowance, Instructors Allowance, the recording of working time and a viable pension can be implemented in days but would have long-lasting benefits.

RACO said this would help to stem the exodus of highly experienced personnel from the country’s military.