Army pays €4.6m Border allowance

SOME 860 Army officers and recruits will share a State payout of €4.6 million in “Border allowances” this year.

The annual payment is made to officers and troops regardless of the closure of a number of barracks in the Border region and the reduced threat of violence from subversives.

The payments were disclosed by secretary general of the Department of Defence Michael Howard at a meeting of the Dáil Committee on Public Accounts yesterday.

Mr Howard said the payment had been “ringfenced for all those who hold it” and while the Army had sought to get out of the payments, the issue had gone to independent arbitration and “they won and we lost”.

Mr Howard did not provide an annual figure but the figure of €4.6 million this year was released later by the department.

The figure is for a full 12 months and the department said €3.5 million had already been spent in 2011, meaning it was broadly on target.

Figures for the breakdown of officers and enlisted personnel were not immediately available but it is known that last year the recipients included 46 officers and 995 troops. Most of the recipients are attached to three barracks in the Border region: Finner Camp in Donegal, Cavan and Dundalk barracks. However, following a change in 2009, new entrants to Border units are no longer paid the allowance. In accordance with the independent arbitrator’s finding the allowance will continue to be paid to those who were in receipt of the allowance on February 1st, 2009.

Under questioning from John Deasy (FG), Mr Howard also said the numbers serving in the Army had fallen to about 9,550. He said the maintenance of large numbers of barracks was a strain on the resources of the Army as each barracks would have to be guarded 24 hours a day, seven days a week and between roster times, leave and training this involved a considerable number of personnel.

He said where a barracks provided its own stores and catering facilities, the requirement for personnel was greater again. The closure of a barracks at least allowed a substantial transfer of resources from the “support side” to the “deployment side”. For these reasons he said the realisation of the land value of the barracks was not the prime factor in closures.

Mr Howard also said the Army landholding in the State amounted to some 8,200 hectares.

While the use of this land was under review, some facilities such as firing ranges and Baldonnel airport in Dublin, required vast areas of land.