The Defence Forces will need to provide better working conditions if they are to hold on to key personnel, the staff association for the military has heard. In particular, they will have to compete with the private sector on providing facilities such as creches. The annual conference of PDFORRA (Permanent Defence Forces Other Ranks Representative Association) addressed the problems of attracting recruits to military life, and of holding on to serving qualified personnel.
The general secretary of PDFORRA, Mr John Lucey, said the military was "withering on the vine" because of lack of recruitment and early departures of trained soldiers. On Monday, Mr Lucey had suggested that the Defence Forces should recruit non-nationals who have satisfied citizenship criteria. Mr Lucey said the Defence Forces were under threat because of the State's economic success. There was a need for better pay and conditions to attract suitable candidates to military life.
"We are now recruiting people who expect to own a car, have a foreign holiday and want to own a house in a country that is fast becoming one of the most expensive on the planet to do any of these things," he said. He added: "I suggest that in order to compete with the commercial sector we must be looking seriously at creche facilities for situations where both parents are in the service.
"We must be seriously looking at performance-related bonuses, such as additional allowance for second and successive trips overseas." He said failure to ensure adequate numbers of trained staff "may prove catastrophic". "It is clear that the difficulties facing the Defence Forces require some immediate remedy to stem the haemorrhage," he added.
Yesterday, both the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, and the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, Lieut Gen Colm Mangan, broadly welcomed the idea that established non-nationals should be offered positions in the Defence Forces. Mr Smith said he intends to "look seriously at PDFORRA's proposal to recruit non-nationals".
Speaking at Renmore barracks in Galway prior to his address to the PDFORRA conference, he said the Defence Forces had not been successful in attracting sufficient numbers of young people.
"We have an enormous fight on our hands at the present time because 290,000 jobs have been created in the last three years and 48,000 people have returned in the last two years to Ireland. We have one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe, so the competition out there for young people is fantastic," he said.
The State had to become "better used to" the idea that non-nationals were now attracted to Ireland, the Minister said.
In his address to the conference the Chief of Staff said he would welcome recruitment of non-nationals who satisfied citizenship criteria. "What we need in personnel is a blend of youth and experience. We need new blood, young men and women, to lower the age profile and, at the same time, we need to retain the valuable depth of experience so vital to our success," he said.