asked the Minister for Defence if his Department has at any stage given consideration to (a) voluntary national service or (b) compulsory national service; and, if so, if he will give details of such consideration.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - National Service.
11.
Enlistment in the Defence Forces is on a voluntary basis. Compulsory military service is not under consideration.
Has it been considered at any stage by the Minister's Department?
No.
In view of the fact that about 240,000 people are unemployed, would the Minister agree that this is a subject worthy of examination in order to ascertain the pros and cons of either voluntary or compulsory national service?
It might well be a subject for consideration but I would be hesitant to accept the inherent point in the Deputy's question that we could deal with our unemployment problem through compulsory military service.
That is not what I meant.
That was the clear import of the Deputy's question. It would be totally at odds with the tradition of military service in this country which was on a voluntary basis even during the Emergency.
I am aware that there are certain security dangers in making service in the Defence Forces open to all and sundry. It can give rise to security dangers. Given that there are so many people with nothing to do, would the Minister agree that it might be a worthwhile exercise to consider them for voluntary or compulsory national service? It is at least a subject worthy of examination.
The Deputy is talking about voluntary national service. I have to speak of a voluntary military service. There is a form of national service available for unemployed people through the special employment scheme. That is a form of national service, if you like. I do not think it would be appropriate to use the Defence Forces. It would not be the security considerations which would concern me because I have no doubt about the loyalty of the vast majority of our citizens, but it would be the policy element of compelling unemployed people to render military service when they might not want to do so. That would not be in keeping with our traditions of voluntary service or for freedom for the citizen.
The point could easily apply to all citizens, employed and unemployed. Should we consider the pros and cons of national service? The Minister is giving an opinion but he has not, from his answer, examined the matter. Does he consider it worthy of examination?
The point the Deputy makes is interesting and has wide connotations. We can hardly get into a debate on the pros and cons of it here. I would welcome a contribution from Deputy Mitchell when the Estimate for the Department comes up. Such debate might well be got under way and that would be an ideal opportunity to start it.
I concur with the spirit of the Minister's reply. In view of the large number of people unemployed, has he any proposals to extend recruitment and opportunity in the FCA?
The FCA are a voluntary force. Extending recruitment in the FCA would not deal at all with the unemployment position.
The Minister is missing the point. Very many good people who are unemployed would like to be in a position to give some contribution to the State, and not a mandatory contribution. Can the Minister create a further opportunity for them to do that by extending recruitment within the FCA and making more funds and opportunities available in the FCA?
I cannot say off the top of my head what the position is regarding vacancies in the FCA. I answered the question on those lines for the Deputy in the last session here and as far as I can recall the information I had at that time was that, while there were waiting lists for some units, most units were in a position to take whoever applied to them.
Obviously, they would like to be able to take everybody in all units but, as the Deputy has admitted in his question, there are financial implications which in the heel of the hunt have to be met by the taxpayer.