Government accused of reneging on Defence Forces recruitment

The Government has “reneged” on its promise to stem the retention crisis in the Defence Forces and has allowed vacancies to increase by 350 per cent, according to the body representing military officers.

The Representative Association for Commissioned Officers (Raco) said if the current turnover rate of 10 per cent is not reduced the Defence Forces will never return to its establishment strength of 9,500. The current strength is at “an all-time low” of 8,485 personnel, it said, including 6,867 army, 892 Naval Service and 726 Air Corps.

“Immediate and significant intervention” is required to save the Defence Forces, Raco said.

The claims are made in a strongly worded letter sent to all members of the Oireachtas as efforts continue to negotiate a coalition Government.

Last year Minister of State for Defence Paul Kehoe committed to a “High Level Implementation Plan” entitled Strengthening Our Defence Forces which detailed a series of measures to aid retention and recruitment. According to Raco, eight of the 15 projects detailed in the plan are now “significantly” behind schedule and the management staff tasked with executing the plan has now been reassigned elsewhere.

“It would appear that those charged with the delivery and execution of the High Level Implementation Plan ‘Strengthening our Defence Forces’ have reneged on their solemn commitment, made on 04 July 2019 to the representative associations and more importantly to the men and women of Óglaigh na hÉireann, to ‘Strengthen Our Defence Forces’,” Raco General Secretary Conor King said.

In 2019, 870 personnel left the Defence Forces and only 605 were inducted, he said, leading to a net loss of 265 personnel. “This is due to widely acknowledged poor conditions of service and low rates of pay.”

Even if 700 new recruits are brought in every year, an “ambitious” target according to Raco, the Defence Forces will never reach full strength given its turnover rate.

Social distancing requirements for induction training as a result of coronavirus will make bringing in new members even more difficult in the short and medium term, it said.

There are currently 1,015 vacancies across the organisation, a 350 per cent increase since the end of 2017.

“This is a result of well documented poor conditions of service, low rates of pay and is despite the much-publicised report of the Public Service Pay Commission, and the associated restoration of some allowances that had been cut by the Haddington Road Agreement and a modest increase of 10 per cent in Military Service Allowance,” Raco said.

The letter is a response to an analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) which stated Ireland has a better turnover rate than the UK military.

However the PBO document only relies of figures up to 2017. The turnover rate has since increased significantly, with last year seeing a record number of people leaving the Defence Forces.

“Raco believes that this provides an inaccurate picture of the current level of turnover in the Defence Forces and is concerned about the impact that this incomplete dataset could have on key decision makers in the Houses of the Oireachtas.”