Provision is made in the Estimates for 4,639 privates at a cost of £1,220,000, with £1370,000 for marriage allowance, which makes a total of £1,350,000, or something more than double Deputy McQuillan's alleged estimate.
Subsequently in his speech, Deputy McQuillan referred to the setting up of an internment camp in the Curragh. I would not object to any reference to this, because it is possible that some people may disagree with it, but I have no time for Deputy McQuillan in his attempt to pose as a revolutionary. He is not a revolutionary and it is not in him to be a revolutionary. He is a constitutionalist and accepts his seat in this House and accepts his salary from the Exchequer, but he pretends to sympathise with those people. If he had any sincerity in him, he would join with those people, but they would not have him any more than any political Party in this House would have him.
People who have flouted the authority of the State have forced this action by the Government, but I have only contempt for people like Deputy McQuillan who sit on the fence themselves and who have not the character or the sincerity to do more than talk about these things.
The next Deputy who spoke was Deputy Rooney, who criticised the small number of men provided for in the Estimate. There are 250 more men provided for this year than last year. Deputy Rooney stated that the strength of the Defence Forces had never been more than 7,500 or 8,000 in the past few years. I have the figures for recent years here and in 1953-54, when Fianna Fáil were in office, the strength of other ranks was 9,637. In 1954-55, that strength fell to 8,826; in 1955-56, it fell again to 7,909; and in 1956-57, it fell to 7,524. In 1957-58, when we were operating on the Estimate prepared by the Coalition Government, the average number was about 7,250. For this year, we are providing for a strength of 7,500.
Deputy Rooney asked a question about the disposal of surplus lands at Tallaght and he said he was under the impression that they had been offered to the Land Commission for division amongst local people. Deputy Rooney was probably thinking of the lands at Baldonnel which have been handed over to the Land Commission. I understand that the Land Commission are not interested in the lands at Tallaght and those lands are being disposed of by public auction. It is expected that they will be auctioned in the very near future. Deputy Haughey was one of a number of Deputies who paid tribute to the F.C.A. and I am glad to express my appreciation also of the very valuable work that that part of our Defence Forces is doing. There is no doubt that we are getting very great service at very little cost from the F.C.A. and An Sluagh Muirí and no praise can be too high for these young men who are sacrificing so much of their spare time to preparing themselves to defend the State, should that be necessary.
I was sorry that there were one or two Deputies who had some adverse criticism to make of that very excellent force. I want it to be understood that as far as the Government are concerned, we fully appreciate the importance of the work they are doing and the patriotic motives that inspire them.
Deputy Haughey thinks that possibly in defence policy insufficient attention is paid to the F.C.A. I do not really think that that is so. Possibly they could be brought more into the picture and I shall look into that aspect of the matter; but there are 450 officers and men of the permanent Defence Forces attached to the F.C.A., and I know that the different units of the Army throughout the country take a very great pride in the efficiency of their local units of the F.C.A. and, in this respect, there is almost as much rivalry between the Army people associated with the F.C.A. as there is between the units of the force itself. I was very pleased to find the high regard in which the force is held generally in the Army and I know that the Army authorities were very proud indeed of the fact that this year the F.C.A. were able to run their own competitions themselves at the Curragh, without any assistance from Regular Army officers.
With regard to the question of shortages of supplies of uniforms, there may occasionally occur shortages of a particular size, but this is hard to avoid, and it occurs only when there is an abnormal demand in a particular area for a particular size. To ensure completely against that would involve the tying up of a large sum in maintaining large stocks of every size of the different components of the uniform.
With regard to accommodation for training for the F.C.A., it is very difficult to get suitable accommodation in the different centres and the Army have had to erect huts in a number of centres in order to accommodate the F.C.A. There are 53 centres where huts have been erected. There are three in course of construction at the moment. These Estimates provide for the erection of four further huts, but the location of these has not yet been decided upon.
Deputy O'Higgins got the impression that developments in other countries in relation to modern weapons and so forth may not get the proper attention in our Army. I can assure him that the Army staff are as far as possible kept abreast of these developments. They are keeping informed as much as possible with regard to them. I do not say that we are keeping abreast as regards equipment. Naturally, we cannot even attempt to do that, but they are doing their best to keep up to date in regard to modern developments in methods of warfare.
Deputy O'Higgins referred to the figures for the strengths over the past few years and he made the point that the strength had never exceeded 8,000. I have already given figures which show that, about 1953-54, the strength reached almost 10,000. Deputy O'Higgins's point was that, in view of the fact that the full peacetime establishment decided upon after the war has never been reached, it should now be reviewed and a different establishment worked out. The establishment is at the moment under review, both in the light of our experience with regard to recruiting and in the light of modern developments. I do not know when that review will be completed, but it is being attended to at the moment.
With regard to the casualty service for the treatment of wartime casualties, as Deputy O'Higgins says, there has been some difficulty about that and I hope that the problem will be solved in the very near future.
Deputy O'Higgins left the complaint to which he appeared to attach most importance until last. That was in reference to an answer I gave him to a question he put down with regard to the present strength of the Defence Forces. I regret that the Deputy should have felt outraged by the fact that, in that reply, the Irish titles of the different component parts of the Defence Forces were used. Deputy O'Higgins appeared to be very annoyed about that, but I want to assure him that there was no intention on the part of the officers of my Department who framed that reply to cause Deputy O'Higgins any inconvenience. They were not actuated by any sinister motives, either of denying Deputy O'Higgins the information he sought or of offering him a personal insult by using the Irish language. I am sorry he should have taken up the attitude he did.
The position is that only Irish titles are in use in the Department of Defence now. I would say that these titles were probably used from force of habit, or possibly, if the people concerned in the drafting of the reply did consider the matter, they may have come to the conclusion that, since Deputy O'Higgins was one of those who had the advantage of being educated under a native Government, it was reasonable to assume that he would be able to understand the titles used.
