Recruitment policy ‘won’t help Defence Forces’
Moving to year-round recruitment won’t solve the ever-decreasing numbers in the Defence Forces and it’s being claimed it’s akin to “rearranging the deckchairs on a still sinking Titanic.”
Year-round recruitment won’t address the Defence Forces’ continuous lack of manpower, according to the two representative associations which represent personnel in the Army, Naval Service and Air Corps.
Both RACO, which represents officers, and PDforra, which represents enlisted personnel, have said the Defence Forces can’t recruit their way out of the situation they are in and retention is the issue which needs to be dealt with as a matter of priority.
Numbers in the Defence Forces have fallen well below the 9,500 ‘establishment figure’ which successive governments have agreed is the bare minimum required for them to be effective.
In recent years many experienced NCOs and officers have been bailing out to get better paid jobs in the private sector.
Mark Keane, president of PDForra, which has more than 6,000 members, said “yet again” the core issue leading to the exodus of highly-trained personnel was being ignored.
“There’s no point in rearranging the deckchairs on a still sinking Titanic. Where is the logic in this? We’re only going to be attracting the same people that we do when we have recruitment drives every six months, or every 12 months,” Mr Keane said.
The Naval Service in particular is finding it very difficult to fill recruit classes.
Mr Keane said the British and American military had all-year-round recruitment campaigns and recruitment centres in large towns and cities.
“But we don’t have the population to warrant year-round recruitment,” he added.
“What are they going to do? Are they going to take a (recruitment) class of 20 or wait until there’s 40 or 60? Where’s the logic. We are limited with the training resources we have and the accommodation for trainees,” Mr Keane said.
“Unfortunately, we are yet again having to highlight that the only solution is to address the core issues which are pay and conditions,” Mr Keane added.
RACO general secretary Commandant Conor King said that so many skilled people were leaving that even with accelerated recruitment in 2017 there was just a net gain of three personnel.
It was estimated that the previous year the recruitment campaign and training cost in the region of €15m.
The officer said that money would have had a more positive impact on retaining personnel if it was spent improving pay and conditions.
“We have argued time and time again about the proven cost-benefit of retention. We’ve told the Public Service Pay Commission that we can’t recruit our way out of this crisis,” Comdt King said.
He also wondered what would be considered a viable size for recruit classes.
Minister with responsibility for Defence, Paul Kehoe, said recruitment will only be open for young people to serve in the Army and Naval Service and they can apply online.
He said applicants are also welcome to drop into their local barracks and seek guidance on how to apply.
On starting as an Army recruit new entrants will receive a salary of €402.14 weekly.
After approximately 24 weeks, when they have completed their training and qualified as a professional Three Star Private Soldier they will receive a weekly wage of €532.00 or €27,664 Gross earnings per year.
