Sinn Féin spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Defence, Matt Carthy TD, has said that the failure of government to heed the warnings of representative organisations has created a crisis within the Irish Defence Forces which has worsened each year of this government.

Speaking while attending the Annual Delegate Conference of the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (RACO) in Carlow, Deputy Carthy warned that the recruitment and retention crisis had entered an ‘acute phase’ that, if not addressed, poses ‘an existential risk to our Defence Forces’.

Teachta Carthy said:

“The government have repeatedly failed to heed the warnings of representative organisations such as RACO.  The result is a crisis in the Irish Defence Forces that was worsened each year of this coalition.  That crisis has now entered an acute phase which poses an existential risk to the future of our Defence Forces.

“More members have left the Defence Forces than joined in each year of this Fianna Fáil/ Fine Gael government.  They have repeatedly, including in this week’s budget, failed to provide the investment needed to match the requirements of the Commission on the Future of the Defence Forces. They have failed to introduce legislation to implement the Working Time Directive.

“The government, and Micheál Martin in particular, have been preoccupied with undermining Irish neutrality and further entangling Ireland into an EU Military structure.  This has come at the expense of rebuilding our Defence Forces where little substantive progress has been made.

“In terms of rebuilding the Defence Forces, there is broad consensus around the need to resource and move to a minimum of Level of Ambition 2 as outlined by the Commission on the Defence Forces.

“But in terms of implementation, the most substantive actions taken by the Tánaiste to date has been to privatise naval maintenance, ordinance training and most recently even recruitment, itself indicative that he has been unable to market his reforms to potential recruits.

“The answers lie within those men and women of the Defence Forces who have warned of the implications of government failures through their representative organisations such as RACO.  Sinn Féin, in government, would ensure that those voices are heard and heeded.  It is clear that the return of the current parties to power will result in an ever-deepening crisis.”