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THE COMING WEEK marks the first anniversary of the publication of the Commission on the Defence Forces report.
When the report was published this time last year, there were 8,468 members within the Defence Forces. That figure now stands at 7,907, as of the end of January.
The report’s key recommendations included an overhaul of military hierarchy, creating a larger navy, introducing more aircraft and dealing with pay and conditions and detailed the gaps in Ireland’s defence structures in stark reality.
Tánaiste and Defence Minister Micheál Martin said this week there is a real “urgency” attached to recruitment and retention in the Defence Forces. However, his comments come as the LÉ Róisín and the LÉ Niamh ships are placed into reserve because the Naval Service does not have personnel to staff them.
In a bid to find solutions to the hemorrhaging of staff, the minister held a meeting in recent days with military command and senior officials in his department in respect of recruitment and retention.
He also acknowledged in the Dáíl that pay and conditions were identified as issues over the past two to three years, but insisted, “there has been a lot of movement on the pay front”.
The starting pay for a newly qualified three-star private recruited on completion of basic training is currently €36,419 – with the same future applying to the Naval Service,
A newly commissioned officer, that is, a school-leaver who applied for cadet training, is now commissioned after 15 to 18 months’ cadet training and starts on a salary of €40,316.
If officers are already third-level graduates when they join, they start on a salary of €45,000.
During a trip to Lebanon with the minister last month, The Journal spoke to a number of soldiers based in Camp Shamrock.
They all agreed pay remained a huge issue.
Second to that, was the upgrading of equipment.
Corporal Ciara Nevin, from Kilkenny, who is on her second stint at Camp Shamrock, said:
“Pay is a massive thing for us. We work so hard, we really do, we spend six months away from family, which not a lot of people do.”
She said better pay and conditions would encourage people join up and would make people “actually want to come out here, because it is great to come here. So that would probably be one of the main things”.
Two brothers, Corporal Darren Fleming and Private Evan Fleming, who are both deployed in Camp Shamrock, agreed, stating that better pay would help with the retention issues the force is facing.
“Pay could be better, there’s no doubt,” said Darren Fleming, who added that rising inflation and the cost-of-living also impacts Defence Force personnel and their families back home.
He said due to the workload being carried out by soldiers, as well as the time that they must spend away from their families, better pay and conditions would help.
“To make us a better organisation, pay could do with being better, no doubt. I think that is a big issue, of course with inflation and everyone getting crippled by that too,” he said, adding that many of his colleagues agree.
He said: “With the workload that we do, the long time away from home, like that is really tough, especially for relationships, it can be really tough on the partner, so money could be something that helps.”
Speaking about upgrading equipment, he said there has been newer equipment coming on stream, but he said “it is so slow in development coming through”.
“I think if we got really high-tech stuff, I think it would be a beneficial factor in encouraging people to join,” he said.
“We are moving in that direction, slowly, if it could come on stream quicker, that would be great.”
Since the death of Private Seán Rooney before Christmas, the risks the soldiers face have also come into focus, with soldiers speaking about how their families worry back home in Ireland.
“It’s natural for any parent to worry about their sons, two sons on deployment and mam only has three.
“I think Mam’s worries have escalated since the incident in December, but things in Lebanon can go from zero to a hundred like that, that’s how it works,” said Darren.
He said their mother is a bit of a worried, but with wifi in the camp, it makes it easier to keep in touch.
“I have been deployed places overseas where there is nothing,” he said, stating that this is his third time in Lebanon, his seventh time overseas, and fourth time in the Middle East, having served in Golan Heights as well.
There is a 12-year gap between the two brothers, with Darren, the eldest, stating his family, while worried they are both based in a hostile area, are also reassured they are together.
“I think they [his parents] are calmer because I am here with him, I think if he was here by himself after what happened they would probably be in an asylum right now, but the fact I am here with him, he is under good tuition and observation,” said Darren.
Corporal Neil Walsh from Dublin, who is on his first overseas mission, has a six-month-old baby at home. While he said the training and night shifts are getting him prepared for the return home and the night feeds, leaving family is the “hardest part” of going abroad.
“I’m actually going home on Wednesday for three weeks’ holidays. I’ll be back out again until May,” he said.
With a young family, he agrees that pay remains an issue.
“The pay conditions and the equipment in general – upgrading – all the stuff that has come out of the report, all the stuff that they are going to be acting upon, it is great that we are getting it, because we want it so badly. The gear we have here is good, but it is just not up to the standard we want for our patrols,” he said.
When asked if pay, working conditions and equipment improved, would it help retention, Walsh said:
“I would say so yeah, they are pushing the retention now, so if there are soldiers that are really enjoying their job it is obviously going to help retention.”
Right now, personnel levels in the Defence Forces are hovering at about 8,000.
Martin said in the Dáil that “it will take some time” – maybe the next two to three years - to get to that 9,500, though he said he hoped maybe sooner.
He said investment is going to put into Gormanstown Defence Forces camp in Meath to ensure as a centre of excellence for induction training, which is something that should have happened before now, he added.
Speaking specifically about the Naval Service, Martin said he believes the issues stem from the organisation of working time and the need to take modern-day realities into account.
“We need to stand back and do everything we possibly can to arrest this decline,” he said.
While the Tánaiste wants to ramp up Defence Forces numbers, there is a particular focus being placed on recruiting women.
The treatment of women in the armed forces has come under scrutiny, with the Independent Review Group on the Women of Honours allegations of bullying and harassment, going to the minister on Thursday.
Martin said it is Government policy to increase female participation rates at all levels across the Defence Forces, adding that a high level action plan has been drafted.
A senior gender advisor at colonel level, options for female participation at general staff level, a review of fitness standards, and the development of gender, diversity and unconscious bias training is all part of the new plan.
“These are critical recommendations which will underpin the commitment to moving to a strong representation by women across the ranks,” said the minister.
Corporal Nevin told TheJournal that she would encourage women to join up.
“The lads just treat you as one of them, they are so great, they love involving you, they will never leave you out, ever. I have never felt that I have ever been left out. The lads over here are great, they are really, really good. I love having them around.
“I encourage women to get involved – definitely – the lads will always look after you, they just take you under their wing, even though you might not need it, it is great to have them.”
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I’ve had Crohn’s for over 30 years- and whenever I’m out and about have to carry a change of underwear and/or clothes with me- just incase I don’t get to a loo on time. People don’t see that there is anything wrong with you- and don’t make allowances. I got given out to by one woman in Liffey Valley when I had to use a disabled loo last weekend. Its not even that she was disabled and needed to use it- because I didn’t look ill- I was being evil for using it. Sometimes you really just want to curl up in a ball and cry.
I’m one of the lucky ones who manages to hold down a job- though I have deliberately tailored the posts I’ve gone for to try to make the most of my abilities- without my health being adversely affected. But even when you’re more than capable of doing a job- you still have to put up with work colleagues who makes a massive deal about having some extra clothes hidden away for emergencies (along with shower gear etc). It doesn’t need to affect them- but ‘no way are you entitled to anything that isn’t available to me’. So- you end up giving up the cupboard you had been offered- simply to shut them up. That its now used to store a few boxes of envelopes that aren’t going to be used until next August, is irrelevant- you aren’t being given an accommodation that someone else who knows best doesn’t think you need.
The manner in which you don’t look ill- even though you may be taking painkillers that would anaesthesise a horse alongside steroids at a level that would ban you from any competitive sport for life- means you are constantly apologising for your existence. I actually feel sad rather than annoyed when I get well meaning comments along the lines of- ‘Well, you’re out of hospital and you look fine again- isn’t it great that you’re cured’. I could launch into an explanation- a very true but graphic explanation- but when the person is actually well-meaning- and despite the fact that you’re in pain to the extent that you can’t stand up straight- its easier to simply agree- yes, I feel a lot better than I did last week (without adding- a blood transfusion and a week on IV Cortisone- has helped- and I’ll be going back for more blood transfusions in a week or two).
Darren- I know you’re trying to be funny- its not funny though- and quips like yours only make it worse for those of us whose life is badly affected by disease.
The unseen nature of Crohn’s and Colitis- and the reticence among people to acknowledge the issues- because unfortunately they are graphic in nature- means- along with having a physical disease- most sufferers are also forced to suffer in silence- alongside the ridiculous comments we constantly get from those around us- many relating to dietary advice (if I had tuppence for every person who told me I’d be fine if I avoided glutten, or dairy, or ate more vegetables, or went on the Atkins diet- or whatever the current fad du jour might be- I’d be a wealthy person).
Life is hard enough- without suffering in silence- and silence is what most people with Crohn’s and Colitis are confined to- they are the diseases that dare not be spoken of. Its good that we have had a few articles on Crohn’s and Colitis in the Journal in the last week. If they help even one person not make an inappropriate or nasty comment to a sufferer- they’ll have been well worth while.
Well said, Shane. I hope it gets better for you
Shane,
I’ve had Crohn’s for the past 26 years and that is a perfect summery of the condition.
I’ve now had a total colectomy and Proctectomy with a permanent illeostomy and it has changed my life.
Hope things get better for you.
Very well said Shane.
Have you tried the Facebook support groups? It’s so nice to be able to share the more unpleasant aspects of these diseases with people who genuinely understand. You can find them under “Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis Ireland” or “Crohn’s and Colitis UK forum” if you’re interested.
I hope you’re keeping as well as possible and I wish you all the best.
Very brave girl for sharing her story
Well put Shane McCarrick . I had UC ( Ulcerative colitis) for over 10 year had to know every Pub, hotel and toilet on the way to work, Make sure your on a Train with a toilet , Having to leave work without notice because you need to change. Ended with Colon Cancer ( which is now gone happy days) and now have a colostomy bag and living a full life.
Good luck with your treatment Shane and I hope everything goes well. A note to people if you have any of the Symptoms get it checked out and don’t put it down to bad food or drink. This may save your life.
To all the people who thinks its funny try living with food poisoning every day of your life.
Incredibly proud to say this girl is a dear friend of mine. Well done Ali!
Very proud of you for raising awareness Ali x
Few friends have Crohn’s. Have a look into the MAP vaccine ongoing research – seems promising.
You lot making a joke about it you’s are a disgrace I won’t say I hope you’s never get it because I do then see how you’s would feel I haven’t got it myself but know people who have and it’s an awful disease.
Hear hear Shanr. Have it 20+ years and agree with everything u r saying. It is a hidden disease and u may look well but u never are right. Plus side affects include among other things arthritis and can also affect sight.
Hi everyone,
I just want to say thank you to Christina for the article and to everyone for reading it and sharing their experiences :)
To the jokers all I’ll say is thanks for the giggle! There’s many times with this disease where you just have to laugh because otherwise you’d cry! ;)
Fair play Alison for talking out, I suffer from ibs and its terrible, worse than child birth, ibs is not as extreme as colitis or Crohns but none the less I could be queuing up and then it hits you luckily some shops are good and and if you need the toilet they are very good, it really does screw things up.
So proud of you Alison for telling your story. You have never let Crohn’s define you. You have always managed it with the utmost dignity. Well done on telling people about this silent disease. Your proud Mam xo.
I know a guy from home who everyon e assumed was drug addict coz hed lost weight.apparently had chrons.people are so judgemental .screw da haters.
My god, what a bunch of horrible trolls! I’d love for one of you to spend a day in our lives and see how much of a joking matter it isn’t! You wouldn’t last 10 minutes!
To all my fellow IBDers, keep fighting, keep strong, keep positive. I know there are days (or weeks or months) when you want to curl up into a ball and cry (me today) but tomorrow things might be better. I have children, I can’t let this disease get me down and I know it’s damn hard to keep up your spirits when you spend most of your day on the loo. Just think, it could be worse, you could be like one of those insensitive trolls above
Sounds like a right Bummer
You’re a prize pr1ck!
Massive , massive credit due to anybody who publicly discloses such an intimate and sensitive issue to raise awareness.
Like most sensitive issues in life,it takes huge courage which by definition is beyond most people to reveal such a personal condition publicly – thats obviously not a slight against those who don’t possess the necessary confidence to disclose such problems,just a statement of recognition of the immense strength of character to make any potential issue for which you may be judged ; be it bowel issues,being gay ,mental health issues, childhood abuse etc.
As someone utterly ignorant of the day-to-day effects of Crohn’s Disease ,thanks to Alison,Shane et al for enlightening me. I wouldn’t condemn the trolls too much either – in the age of the internet,personal discomforts of strangers on most issues is grist for the mill for ‘puns’ by would be comedians – there’s no personal malice involved- just thoughtless insensitivities about strangers to win attention from other online strangers.
Well done again – ye should be proud of yerselves for yer courage.
Thank you very much John, that means a lot to me :)
Sounds like a load of a scutter to me
Three clowns taken advantage of someone illness.
Would you make jokes about cancer? Joking about long-term illness is as low as it gets. Someone’s struggles aren’t something for you to belittle.
My wife is forever saying I don’t pay her any attention. So yesterday I was expecting brownie points when I said, “Have you had your hair done dear? You look different.”
She went ballistic. I won’t forget she’s having chemotherapy again in a hurry!!
Neildarkmind you are a Phukking simpleton.
So proud of you Alison for telling your story. You have never let Crohn’s define you. You have always managed it with the utmost dignity. Well done love for spreading the word on this silent disease. Your very proud Mam xo.
@ Anthony how inconsiderate of u
What a lot of comedians here today….here’s hoping you never have to suffer the daily agony and have some idiot make jokes about it.
On a practical level…I believe in the UK people with bowel conditions are given a card that allows them access to toilet facilities in shops businesses etc that normally wouldn’t allow public access. It simply states that the holder is suffering from a non-infectious condition but can need immediate access to toilet facilities.
Well done to Alison for speaking out…it’s a difficult one to explain to people…without discussing your bowel habits to people who don’t really know and don’t really want to hear that kind of detail!!!
Sonia Sullivan comes to mind.
Anthony, perhaps someday Karma will sneak up on you and give you a right kick up the ar$e and maybe you will realise the pain and suffering people with Chrons and UC are going through everyday of their lives. It is one of the most horrible diseases that anyone could have.
Game of chrones
I hope everything comes out ok!
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