Sir, - I am pleased to be able to reassure your columnist Kevin Myers that things are not as bad as he fears (An Irishman's Diary, February 12th).
Fundamental differences in role, organisation and in the structure of government systems can make direct comparisons between public service organisations in different countries rather difficult. However, we are at a loss to account for the rather amazing conclusions reached in Mr Myers' attempt at a comparison of the defence organisations in Ireland and Denmark.
The total number of civilians employed in the provision of administration, support and maintenance for the 29,000-strong Danish military is around 9,000. A small civilian ministry employs around 160. Around 440 additional civil service staff are employed within the equivalent of defence forces headquarters and the balance, running to more than 8,000, are employed in a variety of clerical, administrative, manual and technical tasks throughout the military organisation.
The use of civilians in military organisations is commonplace. For comparative purposes, Mr Myers may be interested to know that around one third of the US Defence payroll comprises civilians (c. 700,000 civilians compared with c. 1.37 million military). In the UK, the proportion is similar (119,000 civilians compared with 214,000 military personnel). In Ireland, the Department of Defence employs a total of around 440 civil servants and approximately 1,000 civilian employees in military barracks around the country, accounting for around 12 per cent of the total Defence payroll. Mr Myers is correct in deducing that the Irish figures are out of line with best practice internationally; to address this shortcoming, a programme of further civilianisation will be addressed in the forthcoming White Paper.
There are dangers in rushing to judgment without being fully informed of all sides to an issue. In the words of the great American newspaperman, H.L. Mencken, "For every human problem, there is a neat, simple solution; and it is always wrong." - Yours, etc., John Hanney,
Press Officer, Department of Defence, Infirmary Road, Dublin 7.