THE CHAIR OF a Dáil committee has said that TDs are becoming increasingly “frustrated” with the pace of implementation of the action plan for resourcing of the Irish Defence Forces.

Charlie Flanagan, TD, made his comments during a hearing in which Julie Sinnamon, the chairperson of an independent oversight group for the implementation of key military modernisation recommendations was appearing before the Joint Defence and Foreign Affairs committee.

The Action Plan, announced last July, is the strategy arising out of the recommendations contained in the Commission on the Defence Forces (CODF).

The CODF had recommended a three tiered, known as Level of Ambition, increase in resources, capability and staffing of the Irish Defence Forces. The second level of ambition was accepted by Government.  

It also would require the largest increase in the defence budget in the history of the state, bringing it from €1.1 billion to €1.5 billion by 2028.

Sinnamon is the chief of the body overseeing that change – yesterday she told the committee that the plan was progressing.

She revealed that a Head of Transformation is set to be appointed next week and that other measures were underway but she said ultimately that measures have been delayed because of the publication of the Independent Review Group (IRG) into allegations of abuse in the ranks. 

Pace of change

Flanagan rounded on the pace of implementation, however, and said that members of the committee were growing in frustration over the lack of visible change. 

“Can I convey to you a certain frustration on the part of members, which I’m sure has been evident over the course of this hearing,” he said. 

Flanagan said that on visits to Naval, Air Corps and army bases he and his colleagues noticed the impact of “chronic underfunding” and poor equipment and “staff morale was at the lowest in the history of the State”. 

The former Fine Gael Government Justice Minister said that the word “urgent” had been used by Sinnamon in her comments to the committee but he said that it was important that urgency was followed through on.

“We saw firsthand the consequences of poor level of investment over a long number of years and add to that a failure of recruitment where I think currently the figures are around 8000, or I think three and a half thousand less than what they should be.

“So this is the background of the urgency. And we haven’t at all mentioned the issue of war and conflict and in Europe and the geopolitical instability threats on an active basis on on on European soil.

“So that has resulted in the type of frustration that members of our parliament are conveying. It’s not a frustration level at the implementation oversight group but it does stress on our part, the need for deadlines to be met,” he added. 

Flanagan said that he was concerned that the 2025 deadline for full implementation would not be met – especially in light of the need for new legislation to pass through the Oireachtas. 

Other TDs also rounded on the perceived or real lack of urgency in the pace of change. 

Cathal Berry, an Independent TD and former military officer, said the pace of action on the strategy had been “quite slow”.

“Everyone else seemed to be scaling up their defence capability within weeks of the invasion of Ukraine, but we are still moving at the pace of a snail.

“The only real metric that matters is the headcount in the organisation.

“If you want a get a parameter in terms of are things improving, look at the headcount. 

“Unfortunately the headcount has been dropping consistently, even in the last few months, so people are losing confidence in this process. There are only 7,800 people in the Defence Forces now.

“There used to be 10,500. So the number has dropped by 25% in the last 10 years which is awful.

“If any other profession was dropping their strength by 25% it would cause mayhem.”

Julie Sinnamon during her appearance before the Joint Committee on Defence and Foreign Affairs. Oireachtas TV Oireachtas TV

Matt Carthy of Sinn Féin who is the opposition spokesperson on Defence, also said he had issue with the action taken. He also questioned if the 80% completion of actions legitimately showed a step forward for Defence. 

“I have to say I have a concern in respect of the pace of implementation of the Commission of Defence Forces. We’re well over a year now since it was published and I suppose there’s always ways in which you can set out how, how we’re how we’re meeting stated objectives, but there are 38 as early actions and I think the figure we’ve been given is that 80% of them have been implemented or largely implemented.

“I would have a concern because I would think that early actions would mean early implementation of those actions and it will lead to a broader concern there in terms of the wider set of recommendations that will be (left) there,” he said. 

In her response to the criticism she said that a key issue has been the publication of the IRG which has affected some of the measures in the Action Plan. 

“When I look at the actions that haven’t been completed, one of those was the development of a detailed implement implementation plan.

“That plan is at an advanced stage, one of the issues which has delayed it has been the IRG report and the establishment of an (enquiry) and development of the terms of reference for it and potential interface on both of those and ensuring that the implementation plan is comprehensive,” she explained.  

Sinnamon told the committee that her group had met six times since last November and had been focusing on implementing 38 early actions to support – she said 80% of those early “proposed transformative change” had been completed.

“As the Tanaiste (Micheal Martin) has previously stated and I wholeheartedly agree, it is important for this plan to be completed expeditiously but it is more important that we get it right.

“This is particularly important in the context of the recent report of the Independent Review Group of dignity and equality issues in the defence forces.”