Sir, - John Nolan's letter (October 19th) gives an interesting insight into the changing nature of the Defence Forces in Ireland. He outlines the way in which the Defence Forces propose to spend the £250 million allocated to them over the coming years and goes on to say that defence will account for 4 per cent of Government spending this year.
While some improvement in the conditions of soldiers is necessary after many years of neglect, it is surely questionable if this is the best use £250 million. Do our Defence Forces really need light infantry tactical vehicles, for example? Are we now paying the price of "interoperability", resulting from our membership of NATO's PfP, itself the result of the Government's broken promise to the Irish people on the issue?
At a time when the health system is grinding to a halt due to neglect, lack of personnel and lack of resources, when there are rumblings of discontent from teachers in relation to pay and conditions and when we must wait until 2007 to reach the UN aid target, surely we could find a better use of £250 million than to use it to boost the international arms industry.
The Republic survived 30 years of an effective war on this island with minimal defence expenditure. During that time our Defence Forces served with great distinction in peace-keeping roles all over the world. Isn't it somewhat ironic, that now, as peace becomes an ever more real prospect in Ireland, our Government is dancing to NATO's tune and arming as never before?
Undoubtedly, this will be a major issue in the forthcoming general election. Let's hope that, this time, parties will make their positions clear and - even more importantly - that they will subsequently abide by the position which they adopt in their pre-election manifestos. - Yours, etc.,
Joe Murray, Afri, Lower Rathmines Road, Dublin 6.