Irish Examiner view: Swift action must follow promises on Defence Forces reforms

Over the past year, we have seen little other than the continued emasculation of our army, naval service, and air corps

The LÉ Niamh is one of two vessels mothballed by the navy because there is not enough crew to staff them. Picture: Denis Scannell

Twelve months ago, we saw — and broadly welcomed — the report from the Commission on the Defence Forces which outlined the pressing need for investment in our army, naval service, and air corps if they were to be able to simply carry out their duties.

Rather than revitalisation over the year since we have seen little other than the continued emasculation of each branch of our Defence Forces — to the point where their combined strength has dropped to below 8,000, some 1,500 members short of its establishment strength of 9,500. On top of that, the revelation in this newspaper that shortage of personnel could see the reserve Defence Forces vanish altogether within three years, came as another blow.

And this came just a week after the navy mothballed two of its vessels — the LÉ Niamh and the LÉ Róisín — because there is not enough crew to staff them. Right now, we are left with just four ships to perform duties such as sea fisheries protection, drug trafficking surveillance, and rescue missions.

Given the massive size of the waters the navy is supposed to cover, this seems a paltry amount and despite navy assurances that permanently docking two of its ships will not affect its ability to do the job required of it, the implications for national security seem obvious.

The Commission on the Defence Forces report clearly stated that our army, navy, and air corps were ill-equipped and undermanned in the face of Russian and Chinese threats — not to mention those from Islamic and far-right extremists.

As Tánaiste and Minister for Defence, Corkman Micheál Martin is well acquainted with our proud naval service and, having just returned from a trip to the army’s UN personnel in the Lebanon, is no doubt right up to speed with the difficulties facing them too.

A white paper published as long ago as 2015 committed the Government to maintaining Defence Forces numbers at 9,500.

The acceptance by the Government of last year’s commission report also obligated the Government to wide-ranging reforms on recruitment, pay, pensions, equality, equipping, and modernisation.

It is urgent that action now follows promises.