Sinn Féin spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Defence, Matt Carthy TD, has said a newly published report exposes Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s record of running down our Defence Forces over the past decade, and their failure to address the resultant crisis.

‘Defence Forces: Analysing Ireland’s Naval Service’ was published by the Parliamentary Budget Office, an independent and specialist unit within the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Teachta Carthy said:

“This report makes abundantly clear that the crisis at the heart of our naval service did not develop overnight and is the result of more than decade of underinvestment and, frankly, disinterest by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil governments.

“It also illustrates that, whatever action the government has taken, rather than improving the situation it has actually led to a worsening in terms of key metrics.

“1,180 naval personnel have left the service since 2012; more people who have left our navy in that timeframe than are currently in it. The situation continues to deteriorate.

“The number of naval personnel has continued to decrease in every year under this government, from 936 in 2019 to 722 today; a reduction of more than 22% since this government came into office.

“In terms of capital investment, the report highlights Defences overall priority within government as ‘generally fallen’ since 2012 ‘despite growth in the spending/allocations to’ various departments – I would contend this is still the case, with the Tánaiste in the past two years having failed to deliver the capital investment required in order to meet Level of Ambition 2 (LOA2) of the Report on the Commission on the Defence Forces.

“It starkly surmises that had Defence spending kept apace with other government departments over the last decade it would stand around €1.55 billion today.

“Government must acknowledge that while commitments to meet LOA2 levels of spending are welcome, the plain fact of the matter is that LOA2 is not a new departure in terms of ambition, it is the bare minimum acceptable in terms of the Defence Forces domestic and overseas obligations.

“It is where the Defence Forces could and should have been today had it been a priority for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

“And, it is also the bare minimum in terms of treating the men and women of the Defence Forces respectfully. All of this has real impacts in terms of the operational capacity of our naval service.

“The report highlights that while LOA2 would require upwards of 1,980 patrol days per year, in 2023 just 520 patrol days were reported, down from 810 in 2022.

“Naval service personnel want to go to sea, that is why they joined the navy – effectively, failure to address the shortcomings in patrol days leads to less fulfilled personnel getting paid less, exacerbating the recruitment and retention crisis and leaving glaring gaps in our national security.

“I look forward to the Tánaiste’s response to this report and intend to challenge him on these failures when the Dáil returns – in advance of that he can signal a course correction immediately through urgently implementing the Working Time Directive, and by finally delivering upon the capital funds necessary to meet the requirements of Level of Ambition 2 of the Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces which he has now failed to do for 2 years.”