asked the Minister for Defence if the Government will consider introducing voluntary national service.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Voluntary National Service.
8.
(Limerick West): Enlistment in the Defence Forces has always been on a voluntary basis.
The question refers to voluntary national service. I am seeking to get the Department to allow people to volunteer for national service rather than hanging around unemployed. Will the Minister agree that with 250,000 people out of work it would help with discipline and order and contribute to a reduction in crime in the community if voluntary national service were to be introduced on a scale that would allow those who are unemployed to give service to the community? Will the Minister arrange for this to be examined in detail in his Department?
(Limerick West): This has arisen practically every year and my predecessor, who is a colleague of the Deputys, gave him the same answer. Enlistment in the Defence Forces is on a voluntary basis. Compulsory military service was not resorted to even during the 1939-45 emergency period. Furthermore, there is no legislation in existence under which compulsory military service could be introduced in peace time or in an emergency.
There is no suggestion in the question that there should be compulsory service but a huge number of people would be happy to do voluntary national service. It would help the community by ensuring order and a lack of crime and prevent people being prey to drug pushers if the Government would open their minds to examine this question in detail. Is it a fact the Department are fearful of training subversives and this is one of the reasons against voluntary national service?
I want to help the Deputy to elicit information but he is tending to repeat his supplementaries.
(Limerick West): That matter does not arise because the necessary precautions are taken in advance with regard to any recruitment. Voluntary enlistment has always been a matter of policy. From the military standpoint, compulsory service would ensure a substantial reserve of manpower with military training which could be drawn on from time to time. From a social point of view many people would feel that young men would benefit from Army discipline but from a practical point of view the level of compulsory military service would give rise to enormous problems in the administrative, organisational and financial areas. Compulsory military training would not be a once-for-all operation; it would be necessary to introduce a system of annual training for those so trained. The cost would be enormous. I cannot visualise it at present.
Is the Minister aware that there are costings to show that it would not be so costly to the State because of the saving on unemployment benefits? Will the Minister consider consulting with the other defence spokesmen in the House to see if some agreed approach to this matter could be arrived at?
(Limerick West): I am not aware of any such costings.
Will the Minister consult with the other defence spokesmen in the House?
(Limerick West): I will consult with anybody.
Will the Minister agree that the FCA are available for the type of service indicated? Will he further agree it would be undesirable to train the mass of young people as militarists, that it would be quite dangerous and we could end with the situation we had in the thirties where such people were wearing coloured shirts——
That is not a serious question.
Blue was the colour they were wearing.
(Interruptions.)