Vol. 408 No. 5
12 Mr. Moynihan asked the Minister for Defence the reason for the delay in the establishment of the new interview board for promotion of senior officers within the Defence Forces; and if he will outline when the current vacancies will be filled.
19 Tomás Mac Giolla asked the Minister for Defence if he will outline, in respect of each rank from colonel upwards, the number of vacancies which exist in the Defence Forces at present; the steps which are being taken to have these posts filled; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 12 and 19 together.
Following the recent promotion of five officers to the rank of Brigadier-General there are no vacancies in that rank or above that.
There are at present five vacancies in the rank of colonel and it is intended that a promotion board will be established in the near future to assess the merits of eligible officers who wish to be considered for promotion to fill these appointments.
In filling these appointments, and in regard to the promotion board to be appointed, will the Minister consider including on the promotion board a representative of the officers' representative association, RACO? Will the Minister agree that that would be a useful mechanism to get over any difficulties or reservations within the Defence Forces about the criteria employed by the promotion board in finally making a decision?
In that regard the Gleeson Commission recommended that the board for promotion to the rank of colonel should consist of the Assistant Chief of Staff, three colonels nominated by the Chief of Staff and a civilian nominated by me on the advice of the Civil Service Commission. No decision has been taken yet about the composition of that board. The last promotion board, which has just completed its work, had some discussion with the representative organisations. I am not certain that it would be advisable or wise to have somebody from the association on the promotion board. I will certainly keep the Deputy's views in mind.
Would the Minister agree that at the time Gleeson reported we did not have the representative association fully in place or agreed in principle and, secondly, we did not have the degree of reaction that emerged from the recent spate of appointments? Bearing those two factors in mind I would ask the Minister to consider the inclusion of a representative of RACO on interview boards at this level?
I see no difficulty whatever in having consultations or discussions between RACO and the promotions board. Whether they should be on the board is something we will take into consideration.
Question No. 13.
