Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 13 Feb 1996

Vol. 461 No. 4

Adjournment Debate. - Future of Military Barracks.

Mr. Kenneally

I thank the Chair for giving me this opportunity of raising this important matter and for his co-operation as I was unable to be here on Thursday when I first tabled this matter. I would also like to thank the Minister for coming here this evening.

This Government seems determined to take as much power and responsibility as it can from the south-eastern part of the country. I could cite many instances if I had the time. However, the recent decision of the IDA to locate their headquarters in Cork was a further indication of that policy.

As to the Defence Forces, the original plan was that the 3rd Battalion in the Curragh would be amalgamated with the 30th Battalion in Kilkenny, with the headquarters based in Kilkenny. A number of weeks before Christmas, the troops in that barracks were told that their future and their jobs were safe. Four weeks later they were again briefed by their commanding officer and told that the situation has changed and that the troops in Kilkenny were now to form part of the revamped 3rd Battalion. Perhaps the Minister, when replying, could explain why they were told one thing at the end of November and, a few weeks later, they were told the opposite.

What has now been proposed would mean a reduction in the number of troops located there from 350 to 200 approximately. Instead of increasing by, perhaps, 120, which was the expectation that had been created, there was now the possibility that numbers would fall by over 120. I believe this it the thin end of the wedge and that this move will eventually lead to the closure of that barracks with the loss to the local economy of £8 million. Not many areas could sustain such a loss these days.

My concern is not only the further eroding of the economic welfare of the south-east but the effect this will have in my own constituency. There are approximately 40 serving soldiers living in Waterford city who commute to Kilkenny on a daily basis. There are also a large number of soldiers throughout the county who are stationed in Clonmel. Many of these people have families in Waterford. They play their part in local activities and are part of the local community. It appears that all this is to be taken from us.

There is, of course, a smaller knock-on effect in that the four full-time people who are currently stationed in the military barracks in Waterford city would also go and the four people who are full-time members of Slua Muirí in Waterford.

It now seems that the barracks in Kilkenny is in competition with Army installations in County Kildare where there is much more room to manoeuvre and cut back if this is necessary. There are huge installations in the Curragh and these are not under threat. Just down the road from there, two miles away in Kildare and eight miles away in Naas, there are more barracks. I cannot, therefore, see why the south-eastern part of the country should be again under threat.

The biggest problem will be caused by the fact that any new battalion headquarters will be located in Kildare, which means that those stationed in Kilkenny can be asked to move there at a moment's notice. I believe this has happened already with some of the serving soldiers in Clonmel who are being asked to report to Limerick, which is their battalion headquarters. This will cause greater hardship for many of the soldiers who have entered into recent housing commitments and will not be in a position to transfer to Kildare or to commute daily.

This appears to me to be a way of reducing the numbers in the armed forces by stealth. I am calling on the Minister to ensure that the barracks in Kilkenny and Clonmel are maintained and that the £12 million they contribute annually to the economy of the south-east continues. As well as the £8 million I have already mentioned in Kilkenny, in Clonmel the wage bill of the 12th Battalion is approximately £3.6 million. They employ as many as the factory of Merck Sharp and Dohme in the area. One gets suspicious when one sees that no money is being spent on accommodation in the area. In Kilkenny there are only three personnel residing within the barracks.

I ask the Minister to consider the points I have put forward and to give an assurance that there will be no down-grading of the military barracks located in the south-east.

Minister for Defence (Mr. Barrett)

The information the Deputy has just read into the record is factually incorrect. It is a terrible shame that this type of rumour is circulating because I am conscious of the fact that there are families involved, people with mortgages and children at school. As long as there are rumours, fear will be instilled in the community.

The Deputy mentioned that an officer of the Defence Forces briefed the troops in Kilkenny. I do not know whether that is correct but if it happened, the officer was not entitled to do that. He would not have the necessary information to back-up what the Deputy has just read out as facts.

The Government has embarked on a review of the Defence Forces. It has set up an implementation group. That group has examined the structures, has proposed a voluntary early retirement scheme and has recently presented me with a report which I am in the process of examining. When I have completed that examination I will be bringing the matter to Government for a final Government decision when I will ask the military authorities and my Department to implement the plan.

The Government of July 1995 made no reference to the closure of any barracks. Let me repeat in this House, and have it on the record, that I operate on the basis of Government decision. There is no Government decision to close one single barracks. I am only dealing with phase 1 of a plan that will run over a period of ten years and upwards. Phase 1, the phase with which I am involved and on which I have a Government decision, does not include the closure of any barracks.

What we are talking about here is restructuring the Defence Forces from a five-brigade structure to a three-brigade structure to make the Defence Forces more effective and more efficient, to provide greater job satisfaction and to give opportunities to people who choose a career in the Defence Forces to be engaged on operational duties rather than waiting on tables when they were trained to be soldiers and, in some areas, have civilians doing work that is at present being done by trained soldiers, by people in the Naval Service or the Air Corps. That is the purpose of this exercise. It is not a cost saving exercise. It is designed to introduce modern structures into the Defence Forces so that they are capable of carrying out the role assigned to them by Government. In 1993 the Government assigned the roles under which the Defence Forces currently operate, and any restructuring is for that purpose.

I recently met a deputation from Kilkenny Corporation and Kilkenny County Council. I explained the process to them in detail and I am glad to say that they accepted in good faith what I told them. No decision has been taken as to where the battalions serving Kildare and Kilkenny Barracks, where the headquarters will be located, will serve. That is not part of the implementation plan report which has been presented to me. That is a military matter. Whatever happens, Kilkenny Barracks will remain open, the structures there will be meaningful, and if we do have companies in Kilkenny Barracks, they will be proper companies with proper structures. I assure the Deputy that the information supplied to him about the transfer of headquarters to Kildare is not accurate.

For that reason I decided to depart from my script I had here. If it has been circulated, forgive me but I wanted to address directly the question the Deputy put to me because it is only right and proper that I answer questions instead of reading out a script. I am conscious of the fact that we are dealing with human beings, people who have families, mortgages, homes and I do not want them to be concerned about their future. There is no question of transferring soldiers from Kilkenny to Kildare. I would ask those who persist in spreading rumours to cease, because all they are doing is upsetting people. What we should do is await the outcome of the implementation group report. I have already given an assurance to the representative associations, PDFORRA and to RACO, that I will have ongoing consultations with them. There has been consultation to date, and there will be consultation in the future. I do not see a major restructuring of the Defence Forces being carried out overnight. All these new structures we are talking about will be phased in over a fairly lengthy period, but we must have a plan and we must operate to a plan.

I have already got the agreement of the Government to a sum of £13 million this year to commence the voluntary early retirement scheme. I have also got a commitment from the Government that the numbers leaving the Defence Forces will be 2,300 and those entering would be 1,000. That is to address the age profile problem which was highlighted in the EAG report which was commissioned by the Deputy's party when in Government and which was a very worthwhile exercise. I am glad to say that the military authorities accept that what is being done in terms of restructuring is in their interest and they accept that as fact.

I thank the Chair again for giving me the opportunity of replying. I wanted to put people's minds at rest whether they are in Kilkenny or in Clonmel. I repeat, the Government decision under which I operate does not allow for the closure of any barracks.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.15 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 14 February 1996.