I move:
That a sum not exceeding £11,969,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1968, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Defence, including certain Services administered by that Office; for the Pay and Expenses of the Defence Forces; and for payment of a Grant-in-Aid.
The Estimate for Defence for 1967-68 is for a sum of £11,969,000, which is £1,167,000 more than the amount voted for 1966-67. Deputies will recollect, however, from the Supplementary Estimate which I introduced recently that, because of the tenth round pay increases and other factors, the Dáil would have had to be asked for a very substantial sum rather than the token £10 actually sought, were it not that appropriations in aid for 19661967 greatly exceeded expectations. More than one-half of the £1,167,000 by which the present Estimate exceeds last year's figure is due to these tenth round increases.
During the past year Ireland continued to contribute contingents to the United Nations Force in Cyprus. This Force was established, following a resolution dated 4th March, 1964, adopted by the Security Council of the United Nations, and with the consent of the Government of Cyprus. Its functions were defined as follows:
In the interest of preserving international peace and security, to use its best efforts to prevent a recurrence of fighting and, as necessary, to contribute to the maintenance and restoration of law and order and a return to normal conditions.
Since the inception of the Force, Ireland has been supplying contingents and, with six-monthly rotations, three battalions and five infantry groups have served in Cyprus. The 7th Infantry Group comprising some 500 troops, all ranks, and a headquarters staff element of 18 has now completed its six months tour of duty. It has been replaced by the 8th Infantry Group under the decision of the Government to accede to the Secretary General's request for maintenance of an Irish contingent with the Force until the current extension of the United Nations mandate expires on 26th June next. By that date, 21 Irish units and associated staff elements will have had, between them, seven years' continuous service with United Nations Forces, first in the Republic of the Congo and then in the Republic of Cyprus. The total strength, all ranks, of these formations is about 11,250 troops. Bearing in mind the relatively small strength of the Army, its contribution to the maintenance of world peace during those seven years ranks with the best and both the personnel who served abroad and those who shouldered the extra duties thereby created at home deserve congratulations on a job well done.
In the course of an address to officers and men of the 7th Infantry Group on the occasion of the presentation to them of the United Nations Cyprus Medal, the Force Commander, Lieutenant-General Martola, said:
It is a great pleasure for me to visit the Irish contingent serving with the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus. You are halfway through your tour here and I would like to express my most grateful and sincere thanks and appreciation to all of you for the excellent work you have done. Many times the work has been hard for you, serving as you do under great pressure and arduous circumstances, but showing patience and endurance of a high military standard, you have at all times remained firm and steadfast. You have carried out your work in a really excellent manner.
During the year also Irish officers continued to serve with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation which continues to observe the maintenance of the cease-fire in the former territory of Palestine and to assist the United Arab Republic, Syria, Jordan and the Lebanon, on the one side, and Israel on the other, in the supervision and observance of the terms of the Armistice Agreements concluded between them. At present there are ten Irish officers serving with the Organisation. I am happy to say that one of our officers was recently appointed Chairman of the Israel-Syria Mixed Armistice Commission. Irish officers have been serving with United Nations observation missions since 1958 when fifty officers acted in this capacity in the Lebanon. Since then, small numbers of officers have also served in West New Guinea and on the India-West Pakistan border. All these officers have made and are making a very worthwhile contribution to the work of the United Nations.
As Deputies are aware, I visited recently Irish troops serving in Cyprus and the Middle East. During the course of my visit to Cyprus, I had an opportunity of inspecting their camps and of speaking to many of the officers and men. I found everywhere that morale was high, that the health record was excellent and that the troops were doing a difficult job and doing it very well. During a few of the winter months weather conditions in Cyprus can be cold and wet, but, despite this, the troops go about their work cheerfully and with a will. While most of the accommodation is either under canvas or in semi-permanent huts, the United Nations has endeavoured to make the quarters as comfortable as circumstances permit and improvements in progress were noted by me. The men themselves take a very active part in the actual carrying out of these improvements and they also manage to make their surroundings as cheerful and attractive as possible. Indeed, I was greatly impressed by their industry and skill in this direction and their capacity to make the best of the situation.
I had discussions with the Force Commander on the subject of accommodation and I believe that the improvements in hand and contemplated will leave things in a reasonably satisfactory state. It will be appreciated that the United Nations mandate in Cyprus has never been for longer than six months at a time and that the aim is to arrive as soon as possible at a situation where it can be ended altogether. In these circumstances, and having regard to the financial and political implications, I can well understand the reluctance of the United Nations to embark on a large scale programme for the provision of permanent, or even semi-permanent, accommodation. I am satisfied that the United Nations is doing its best to strike a fair balance in its handling of the accommodation problem. I did not have an opportunity of inspecting the accommodation of other contingents, but I was assured that contingents in similar locations to the Irish are similarly accommodated.
Duty at observation posts is arduous but many of our troops to whom I spoke expressed a liking for it. While various factors, such as urban, rural and topographical conditions, local tensions and the occurrence of incidents, must necessarily affect the demands made on the personnel, it can be stated that all contingents are on an equal footing as regards duty.
In the course of my visit to the Middle East, I met all the ten Irish officers serving with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation and I had an opportunity of seeing something of their operational conditions. These officers are mostly employed on observation duty on the various cease-fire lines, work which can be both delicate and difficult. I am happy to say that these officers are doing a wonderful job for the United Nations. I found them in good health and spirits. Incidentally, they rotate on a two-year basis.
Everywhere I went, I found the greatest goodwill towards the Irish troops and praise for their impartiality and fairmindedness. I would like to express the sincere wish that the efforts of the United Nations in those countries will soon meet with complete success.
It is a pleasure for me to record once again my appreciation of the public-spirited activities of many individuals and firms who continue to provide comforts for our troops serving overseas. Since 1960 the organisers of this laudable work have been providing, entirely on a voluntary basis, an avenue for persons and firms to express their appreciation of the contingents serving overseas and their goodwill towards the troops.
This may be an appropriate point at which to bring the House up-to-date in relation to the reimbursement of this country's extra and extraordinary expenses arising from the supply of contingents to the United Nations Forces. As regards Cyprus, it is estimated that by 26th June next, when the current extension of the United Nations mandate will expire, Ireland will have incurred a total sum of approximately £1,600,000 in recoverable expenses. Of that amount, claims amounting to £1,361,200 approximately, have been presented to the United Nations and a total of £887,500 has been refunded to date.
As regards the balance of approximately £473,700 outstanding against the claims already made, the Minister for External Affairs, on 8th February last, again gave the House the background to the situation in relation to allowances paid prior to 26th June, 1965, on which the Secretary-General has agreed to use his best endeavours to arrange for a refund. Representations for the refund of the balance outstanding are being pursued vigorously by the Minister for External Affairs. It will be noted that an amount of £248,800 has still to be claimed. This amount will be claimed as quickly as possible.
I do not think the full financial picture of our claims in respect of overseas service has been given up to now. As regards the Congo operation, our claims amounted to £1,680,000 odd for allowances, stores, etc. and these claims were fully met. A final claim, which covers odds and ends and will be for no more than a couple of thousand pounds, is being prepared. On the pensions side, claims amounting to almost £195,000 have already been made on, and met by, the United Nations in respect of benefits and expenses paid as a result of the death and disablement of members of the Defence Forces who served in the Congo. The only similar claim in respect of Cyprus, amounting to about £6,800, has also been met.
Before I leave overseas service, perhaps I should recall for Deputies that recently I made awards of the Distinguished Service Medal to 65 officers and men of the Permanent Defence Force arising out of service with the United Nations Force in the Congo. I am sure that Deputies will wish to join in congratulating the recipients of these awards which give an indication of the excellent service and devotion to duty of the Irish units which served in the Congo. It is, I think, now generally known that the award of the Distinguished Service Medal is not confined to service with United Nations Forces and that it may also be awarded in respect of appropriate acts or service in home stations.
Because of an improvement in the recruiting position, it was found possible recently to put a second corvette on fishery patrol duties. One corvette has been refitted for such duties, while another is undergoing a similar refit. The helicopter service, in addition to other duties, participated in 38 missions in 1966 involving the conveyance of emergency medical cases to Dublin hospitals. The apprentice training schemes at Naas and at Baldonnel, which are now very well known, continued as usual during the year, as did the schemes for the training of pilots for Aer Lingus at Gormanston Camp and the nautical training of fishermen at the Naval Base, Haulbowline.
The Army Equitation Team participated in six international shows in 1966, and won five first prizes, one second, 12 third and eight fourth prizes, as well as 33 lesser prizes. Locally, 23 shows and 23 gymkhanas were attended, and a very large number of prizes won.
Turning to Civil Defence, I am glad to say that good progress has been made during the past 12 months. A National Control Centre from which warning and advice could be broadcast in a radioactive fall-out situation and which will facilitate the conduct of training exercises has been established in my Department.
Preliminary communication exercises, including the processing and plotting of simulated reports of radioactivity have been carried out with very satisfactory results.
A County and County Borough Mobilisation Scheme, setting out the Civil Defence resources in manpower and equipment available, is in course of completion by all county councils and county borough councils. This scheme represents a considerable advance in the organisation of Civil Defence at Local Authority level. I wish to take the opportunity to express my appreciation for the co-operation of the county and city managers and other senior officers of local authorities concerned in the preparation of this scheme.
In this connection I feel I should emphasise that the purpose of Civil Defence is to mitigate the effects of war on our people and that the operation of Civil Defence schemes within their functional areas is a statutory responsibility of local authorities. Many of the possible activities of Civil Defence would in fact be extensions on a very large scale of existing local authority functions, for example, hospitalisation of injured people and assisting homeless in getting shelter.
The recruitment and training of Civil Defence personnel generally have continued to be satisfactory during the past year. The training of instructors for local authorities, the Civil Service, Defence Forces and Garda Síochána was continued during the year at the Civil Defence School. A series of week-end "Methods of Instruction" sessions on a regional basis has been introduced with a view to improving the general standard of instruction. These sessions have proved to be of particular value to Civil Defence instructors who have already qualified as such at the Civil Defence School but who do not normally engage in instructional work. Short Civil Defence courses for civil servants which were introduced in 1965-66 have been completed by many Departments.
The policy of running week-end camps for Civil Defence, which gives excellent practice in mobilisation and movement of large numbers as well as opportunities for combined training, continues to receive excellent support from the volunteers. Local training, conducted by local Civil Defence instructors, continued at 340 centres during the year.
Considerable publicity by way of Dáil Question and otherwise was given to County Controls some months ago. I would like, therefore, to take this opportunity of saying that these controls represent a vital link in the Civil Defence system. Under operational conditions the county organisation would be directed from them by the County Controller, usually the county or city manager, and his staff — approximately 50 in each case.
Work is in progress on the establishment of a Regional Control, which will also be used as Dublin City and County Control, at Firmount House, Co. Kildare. As a result of further work there during 1967-68, the centre will be operational. Galway County Council has been authorised to proceed with arrangements for the incorporation of a county control in the basement of a proposed new technical school at Moneenageisha. With regard to other county controls, a number of local authorities are ready to proceed with the work.
Throughout the past year the Irish Red Cross Society was, as usual, actively engaged in its commendable humanitarian work, and it is with pleasure that I record again my appreciation of the efforts of the members of the Society in this regard.
During 1966 the Society donated over £11,000 towards the relief of hunger in India. The bulk of this considerable donation was made up of spontaneous contributions from the people of Ireland. The Society also contributed foodstuffs and clothing towards the alleviation of hardship caused by flooding in Italy. In addition, during European Refugee Week in October, 1966, it raised £3,000 for the benefit of refugees in African and Asian countries. It now has 17 refugees from North China at Naomh Aindrias Home in Dublin.
As to the details of the Estimates, I have already mentioned the tenth round increases which came into operation last year. The effect of these is shown by the provisions in the major pay and allowances subheads — Subheads A, B, C, D and F. The Estimate is based on an average strength of 1,178 officers, 87 cadets and 7,150 noncommissioned officers and privates — that last figure being slightly higher than the average strength during 1966-67. The provisions for stores and services are higher than last year's because last year, for economy reasons, the provisions were not as high as I would have wished. The sums being provided represent essential minimum requirements which were determined only after the most careful examination. I do not think it is necessary for me to go over the various subheads in detail. Specifically, however, I may mention, that provision is being made for the building this year of six houses for married soldiers at Limerick, and for further improvements in accommodation and dining facilities for soldiers in barracks.
The Estimate for Army Pensions is for the sum of £2,539,000, which is slightly lower than last year's figure. While the provision for Defence Forces pensions continues to increase, there are inevitable reductions under other subheads as those in receipt of pensions in respect of the 1916-1923 period decline in numbers. As well, with the passage of time, many more special allowance holders than formerly are over 70 years of age and are eligible for old age pensions, especially contributory pensions, so that, while over 9,000 special allowances are being paid at present, there is a slight decrease in the average rate of allowance and the overall cost has not gone up in proportion to the numbers.
Applications for the Service (1917-1921) Medal continue to be received in large numbers. There were more than 700 applications in 1966, and a further 170 have been received in the first three months of this year. Here I should like to repeat briefly what I said last year — that many people seem not to be applying for the Medal until they feel in need of a special allowance. If this trend continues, many applicants will be disappointed eventually, because former officers will not be available for consultation and so the applications will not be capable of being investigated. This difficulty has arisen already and is increasing. It would be well, therefore, that former members of the Old IRA and other organisations of the 1916-1923 period who feel entitled to the Medal should delay no longer in applying for it.