Defence Forces 'broadly on target' in terms of equipment management, PAC to hear 

Department of Defence secretary general Jacqui McCrum will tell the PAC that, notwithstanding the Comptroller and Auditor General's review, the Department of Defence has 'strong governance structures in place to manage and maintain these stores'. Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins

The Department of Defence is “broadly on target” in terms of overhauling how its €255m worth of military equipment is managed, it has claimed.

However, six recommendations from a 2014 review of that process have yet to be implemented.

The department's secretary general Jacqui McCrum will tell the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday that in the wake of a review of the Defence Forces’ equipment stock by the Comptroller and Auditor General, “significant work” has gone into carrying out his recommendations.

That report was published in September 2023 and noted that six recommendations made by the Dunning Report into the same matter carried out in 2014, had yet to be implemented 10 years later, including high priority tasks such as the finalisation of a new equipment plan for the Defence Forces and the development of a new inventory management system for the Defence Forces’ assets.

The €255m worth of equipment — just under 40% of which by value is ammunition — held by the Defence Forces is stored in 23 separate locations, the majority of which are in Dublin and Kildare, with 20% stored in Cork, and roughly 10% to be found elsewhere in the country and overseas.

Ms McCrum will tell the PAC that, notwithstanding the  Comptroller and Auditor General's review, the Department of Defence has “strong governance structures in place to manage and maintain these stores”.

“We are very conscious of our responsibility to continuously examine these systems and implement improvements, as necessary,” Ms McCrum will say, adding that she “welcomes” the review and its recommendations.

“I have put in place a working group that has developed a work plan and will oversee their implementation,” she will say, adding that “significant work on the recommendations has already been undertaken and implementation remains broadly on target”.

Ms McCrum will admit the Defence Forces “is going through a period of significant transformation which is highly resource-intensive", but will say “effective stock management has always been, and will continue to be, an organisational priority”.

Confusion had previously arisen in terms of stocktaking the Defence Forces assets particularly in terms of the disposal of items deemed to be obsolete, with the  Comptroller and Auditor General noting in his report that “there are ongoing issues regarding disposals, mainly the timely disposal of surplus/obsolete items”.

Issues had also arisen in the wake of the decision to withdraw three naval ships from service — the LE Orla, LE Ciara, and LE Eithne — given that a “sizable portion” of the stock held in the naval stores had been used to maintain those vessels to a seaworthy standard.

With the decommissioning of the three ships, that stock “would now be considered obsolete” the Comptroller said.