Half of Naval Service officer cadets leave before completing training, conference told

Cadets do not earn a lot and life on the Atlantic can be very hard, a delegate told the conference. File picture: Denis Minihane

Half the number of officer cadets have left the Naval Service before completing training in the last five years — an "alarming" situation that needs "immediate" action, an officers' conference has been told.

The Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (Raco) president Lieutenant Colonel Martin Ryan said most of them left at a very late stage of training. 

“This has to be a very worrying figure for military management and the Department of Defence. This is a huge issue and needs to rectified immediately,” he said at Raco's annual conference.

The exodus can be costly for those who leave, which was explained by a Naval Service delegate.

In their first year as cadets, they undertake military training at The Curragh and the naval base at Haulbowline Island in Cork Harbour.

In their second year, they start a university degree. In year three, they are out at sea doing all kinds of duties, for which they are paid.

If they decide to leave at that stage, which many have, they not only have to pay back the money for their education, but they also have to pay back the money they legitimately earned while out on sea patrols.

They don’t earn a lot, and life on patrol in the Atlantic can be very hard, the delegate said. After a while, some just decide it is not the career they want, he added.

“Nobody minds paying back for the education, but it is unfair to have to pay back the money earned for the year they spent working at sea,” the delegate said.

He said one younger colleague recently had to pay the State back €34,000 when he quit.

Just two officers were commissioned from the last class.

However, there are double figures in the current class under training, but if it follows the pattern of recent years, only half will become fully-fledged officers.

Meanwhile, the conference also heard about archaic security practices at the naval base, which was described as more akin to the foundation of the State than modern Ireland.

Ships of the fleet that are off sea patrols or in operational reserve have to be maintained by skeleton crews.

But they also have to be physically guarded, despite 24-hour armed security at the base.

One young delegate said they had to stand on the bridge 24/7 watching the gangway to ensure no unauthorised person comes onboard. They can also monitor the gangway via CCTV on the ship.

However, if CCTV were available to armed security, they could monitor it themselves, freeing up the ship's personnel on watch.

Lt Col Ryan said he couldn’t not understand why.

“We still guarding like it was in the 1920s when we have the technology available,” he said.