asked the Minister for Defence if he has considered establishing a scheme of automatic promotion from captain to commandant in the Army after ten years' service in the rank.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Army Promotions.
117.
Automatic promotion for all Army captains to the rank of commandant is not contemplated.
Does it not seem to the Minister that the practice in other armies should be followed here— that those who have given ten years' service as captains should be promoted? It is the practice in regard to professional men in the Army.
I have given consideration to the point made by the Deputy. It is true that certain professional men in the Army get certain promotion while line officers do not.
Surely this is an unwelcome distinction between two types of officer in the same force? Would the Minister not agree that it is humiliating to officers who have up to 20 years' service to find they are refused promotion given in other armies and given to relatively junior service officers in their own Army?
I do not agree at all with the suggestion in the first part of the supplementary question. Our system of promotion and retirement compares favourably with that of any army of which we have knowledge.
The Minister is talking through his hat.
I have not got my hat on me.
The only thing that saves him from talking through his hat is that he has not got it on him.
The Deputy is talking through his hat. He does not know what he is talking about.
Is the Minister not aware that representation has been made to him and to his predecessors by Army authorities on this question? Surely it is unfair that he should dismiss it with a wave of his hand?
I do not dismiss it with a wave of my hand. The matter is being considered. I am not aware of representations having been made to me but I am aware that representations were made to my predecessor. Our promotion and retirement structure compares favourably with that of any army of which we have information.
It has nothing at all to do with the question I asked the Minister.