Richard Bruton
Question:11. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Defence the actions that have been taken to upgrade Ireland's defence system in response to the recent commission on the subject. [58431/22]
View answerThursday, 24 November 2022
Questions (11, 25, 26, 53, 190, 197)
Jim O'Callaghan
Question:25. Deputy Jim O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Defence if he will report on the delivery of the early actions outlined in the high-level action plan for the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces and if all targets will be met. [58287/22]
View answer
Bernard Durkan
Question:26. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Defence the extent to which the reforms in the Defence Forces identified in a recent report are being put in place with particular reference to all of the major recommendations including recruitment, pay and conditions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58360/22]
View answer
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill
Question:53. Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill asked the Minister for Defence if he will provide an update on the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces of February 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57959/22]
View answerBernard Durkan
Question:190. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Defence the extent to which the Defence Forces are being upgraded in line with the recent report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58645/22]
View answerBernard Durkan
Question:197. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Defence the ongoing steps to implement fully the recent report on the Defence Forces as it affects the Army; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58652/22]
View answerOral answers (9 contributions)
I welcome the 25% increase in the capital budget for defence and the greater ambition the Government has committed to for the Army, Naval Service and other dimensions. What progress has been made on this transformation agenda which, as set out in the commission's report, extends to the digital environment, gender, human resources, culture, command and restructuring? I would particularly like to hear what progress has been made on the 34 early actions that were to be delivered within six months.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 11, 25, 26, 53, 190 and 197 together.
The Commission on the Defence Forces was established on foot of a commitment in the programme for Government. As Minister for Defence, I welcomed the publication of the report of the commission on 9 February. The commission has undertaken a significant body of work encompassing wide-ranging terms of reference. It recommends significant changes for the Defence Forces and defence provision in Ireland. It covers high-level Defence Forces structures, defence capabilities, organisation, culture and human resources, the Reserve Defence Force and funding. It is no coincidence that four chapters of the commission's report focused on how we deal with people in the Defence Forces with regard to culture, people management, complaint management and so on.
Given the significance of the recommendations contained in the report, detailed consideration was undertaken by my Department and the Defence Forces, working together over a period of five months. This involved significant interdepartmental consultation. My officials and I have engaged with stakeholders to ascertain their views. Following this engagement, I returned to the Government with a high-level action plan and a memo for Government, which were approved on 12 July. This involved the approval of a move to LOA 2, as set out in the capability framework devised by the Commission on the Defence Forces. This will result in the defence budget rising from €1.1 billion to €1.5 billion, in 2022 prices, by 2028. In other words, the budget is index-linked. This is the largest increase in defence funding in the history of the State and will allow for the required substantial transformation and investment in recruitment and equipment that were identified in the commission's report. The recent budget for 2023 included an increase of €67 million over the 2022 budget and an additional €47 million to provide for the agreed increase in pay. This budget includes an increase of almost 25% in capital funding and demonstrates the Government’s strong commitment to supporting the transformation of the Defence Forces into a modern and agile military force capable of responding to increasingly complex security threats.
The move to LOA 2 will require an additional 2,000 personnel over and above the current establishment. Work has already commenced on this with the recently announced recruitment campaign, ‘"Be More". Some specific initiatives include the immediate commencement of planning for military radar capabilities, including primary radar, and the establishment of an office of Reserve affairs with the priority objective of developing a regeneration plan for the Reserve Defence Force. The high-level action plan was also approved.
The high-level action plan set out 38 early actions to be completed within six months of the Government decision, including immediately progressing the following pay structure measures: the provision of immediate access to the seagoing service commitment scheme to direct entry personnel in the Naval Service; the removal of the requirement for a three-star private or able seaman to mark time for the first three years at that rank; and the payment of the full rate of military service allowance to all personnel at the rank of three-star private or able seaman, which is essentially a pay increase of €5,000 a year.
The high-level action plan set out proposed implementation and oversight structures. An implementation oversight group has been established, which met for the first time on 3 October. Subsequently, Ms Julie Sinnamon was appointed as the independent chair of the implementation oversight group. A second meeting took place on 17 November. A high-level steering board has been established, chaired by the Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach, to oversee the implementation. A civil and military implementation management office, IMO, has been established to support the implementation of the overall transformation programme required to implement recommendations from the Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. The initial focus of the IMO is the implementation of the 38 early actions as set out in the high-level action plan and the development of an implementation plan. Reporting mechanisms have been established to facilitate regular progress reports on the early actions to the IMO and the civil and military strategic management committee. Significant progress has been made on the implementation of these 38 early actions, with the vast majority of early actions at an advanced stage. I have every confidence that the majority, if not all, of the early actions will be completed within the agreed timeframe.
The Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces and the current events in Ukraine are prompting an open debate and consideration of our defence requirements. I fully accept there is an ongoing requirement to consider whether the capabilities we maintain are appropriate, having regard to the security environment, the roles we wish the Defence Forces to undertake and likely risks.
I know the Deputy appreciates and understands the need for structures with regard to delivery to ensure policy certainty and on-time delivery. He has delivered such structures as a Minister in multiple briefs in the past. That is the kind of approach we are trying to take here. We want to have clear structures, reporting structures and people who are responsible for delivery and who will hold me and others to account if we do not deliver on what we have committed to over a period a time. There is going to be six years of action, development, growth, expansion and increased investment. We have an awful lot of work to do given the trends we have seen in recent years, which have continued into this year, whereby we are losing numbers rather than gaining them. I hope that next year will be a turning point.
I welcome the appointment of Ms Julie Sinnamon and the addressing of pay anomalies.
I wish to also ask about a few other specifics. Key positions are needed to drive the transformation: head of transformation; head of HR; head of digital; and head of gender. Have those been advertised? They are crucial to starting a real transformational change. Other changes are needed to the working time legislation as well as bringing in external capacity for change within the management structures, and progress on Army and Defence Forces design. I would like to dig a little deeper into the Minister's confidence that these all will be delivered by 12 January, which is not that far off.
I compliment all of those involved in the proposals to modernise the Defence Forces. In view of the urgency to bring forward the recommendations, has specific responsibility been allocated with a specific timescale for each of the recommendations? To what extent has this been progressed so far and is in progress thereto?
The high-level action plan is the document the Deputy will need to have a look at. The plan itemises 38 early actions and there is a range of other actions that go beyond this as well.
Deputy Bruton raised some specifics, the first being applying the working time directive to the Defence Forces. We have made a lot of progress on that this year. We are, effectively, finalising the consultation process at the moment. This involves the general staff, the Department and representative bodies in the Defence Forces to make sure we get the balance right between the necessary exemptions to the working time directive that have to be there to allow the Defence Forces to operate as the Defence Forces, while at the same time limiting those to the essential areas that are necessary, so the working time directive applies to the vast majority of the work the Defence Forces do.
On advertising for the positions of head of transformation and head of HR, we now have approval from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, which we must get before we can advertise new posts, particularly at this level. The head of transformation will be a senior post in the Defence Forces, reporting to the Chief of Staff. We now have the green light from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to advertise that early next month. I believe it will be advertised on 6 December. Advertising for the role of head of HR will follow closely after that, which I believe will be on 16 December. I may stand corrected on those dates, which I cite just from memory. Either way, both positions will be advertised in December: one early in December and one around mid-December. These two key roles will be filled by civilian experts, who will then be part of the Defence Forces structure that focuses on the transformation that is needed and on the HR challenges we have discussed this morning. They are specific actions. Those positions will be advertised in the next few weeks.
I welcome the decisions on those two posts. The report made clear that it is about changing culture, changing the command structures and restructuring the Defence Forces. They are major shifts. I ask the Minister not to forget about the appointments relating to digital transformation and gender transformation. They are equally important posts for the long-term transformation.
On my Question No. 26, and the associated written questions, I have been pursuing an issue for approximately 25 years with regard to the need in the Defence Forces for ongoing provision in an area that is facing increases in demand, responsibilities, and modernisation. Will the Minister indicate if it would be possible to extend the cadet scheme to plan for the continuity of the increase in the strength and the anticipated dropout and provide for this before it happens? Perhaps military entrants could avail of continued education while serving in the Defence Forces to enhance the position and make it attractive from the point of view of enlistment.
One of the big attractions of the Defence Forces is that a person can continue his or her education, and in many cases it is paid for by the Defence Forces. A big part of the Defence Forces is the opportunity to upskill and to get promoted. One of the changes we are looking to make is to provide more certainty and transparency around those promotion opportunities for career advancement and so on within the Defence Forces, and to back this up with the opportunities to upskill and to return to education, with a view to this benefiting the skill set within the Defence Forces.
On the digital aspect, in the commission we are being asked to provide what is called a "cyber command" within the Defence Forces in the future. This means a more structured and larger cyber and digital expertise within the Defence Forces. We have some good people in the cyber and digital unit in our Defence Forces but it needs to be a bigger unit and it needs to be plugged in more directly to the Chief of Staff and to what will become the headquarters for the Defence Forces, and likewise on gender.
We will move onto the last question. I am afraid Deputy Paul Murphy will not get his full time.