Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 October 2023
77. Deputy David Stanton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if he has considered a retention payment to encourage personnel to remain in the Naval Service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41037/23]
View answerI want to ask the Minister if he has considered a retention payment to encourage personnel to remain in the Naval Service, given the fact that there is an issue with the number of personnel. As part of that, has he looked at the single pension scheme which, RACO told us today, seems to be the trigger for a lot of people leaving the Defence Forces? Has he considered a specialised instructors allowance in order to retain people in the Naval Service?
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I fully acknowledge the challenges currently facing the Defence Forces in regard to recruitment and retention including, in particular, the Naval Service. Ireland is not alone, however, in these challenges, which are being experienced by a number of other militaries across the world, with particular challenges for navies internationally.
There are a number of specific financial retention measures already in place in the Naval Service to recognise service at sea, including a patrol duty allowance, a Naval Service seagoing service commitment scheme and a seagoing naval personnel tax credit. The implementation of early actions from the Commission on the Defence Forces report, in addition to the most recent pay increases provided under the building momentum pay agreement, have contributed to significant progress on pay for all personnel, including those in the Naval Service.
Other initiatives undertaken to address recruitment and retention issues in the Naval Service include: changes to recruitment practices with the assistance of external specialists; a targeted recruitment campaign for the Naval Service; the extension of service limits for privates, corporals and sergeants and Naval Service equivalents recruited after 1 January 1994; the expansion of access to the Naval Service commitment scheme, with service requirements reduced from three years to one year; ongoing general service and direct entry recruitment as well as the re-entry schemes for former personnel; the extension of private secondary healthcare to all ranks in the Defence Forces, a benefit that previously was only available to officers; significant investment in equipment and physical infrastructure; and participation in the overseas mission Operation Irini.
A further range of financial and non-financial retention measures are also being advanced, including progressing with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform an examination of the existing seagoing allowances with less complex seagoing duty measures, the examination of mandatory retirement ages in all ranks in the Permanent Defence Force, progressing with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the introduction of a mechanism to provide for the ongoing review of the application of existing specialist pay rates and allowances, a review of medical services in the Defence Forces, associate membership of ICTU for the representative associations to be underpinned by legislation and the finalisation of the policy position on the working time directive.
My focus is to stabilise the Naval Service. The immediate action required is to provide for less complex sea going duty measures, which will encourage and reward sea going in the Naval Service.
I thank the Minister for his response and encourage him to continue with the work of advancing the suggestions and proposals he put forward. Can he give us any idea as to when the Commission on Defence Forces recommendation that the naval seagoing tax credit and the Naval Service seagoing commitment scheme be replaced with a less complex seagoing duty measure? Could he also give any idea what is happening with the working time directive implementation? Can he provide an indicative timescale as to when that might happen? Has he had a look at the RACO and Amárach Research, which indicates that the single pension scheme was a trigger for almost half of those leaving the Defence Forces to leave, due to the reduction in pension and consequent reduction in quality of life afterwards? Could he tell me anything about the specialised instructors' allowance, in particular in the Naval Service? Would he agree that if it was active it would help to retain personnel in the Naval Service?
My understanding of the specialised instructors' allowance is that there are ongoing discussions with RACO, but RACO agreed with it some time back as part of an earlier deal. I outlined a fairly lengthy list of measures. The personal tax credit is worth about €1,500 for those at sea over a particular period. The measures have not been effective on the recruitment side.
The pension issue continues. An interdepartmental group is working on that because if we do it for the Defence Forces it clearly has a read across to other uniformed services. We are considering the patrol allowance. We have had discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. Again, the objective is meant to be to get more people onto ships out at sea. That would mean amalgamating the personal tax credit into a new simplified allowance. We have to be very clear sighted that it will have the impact that is being claimed for it, namely that it will result in more people being incentivised go to sea. I want to do the best I possibly can in that regard. That is why we will retain the personal tax credit for this year while we are finalising other matters. The pay agreement is coming. We might be able to come up with a better package.
I thank the Minister for his response, the work he is doing and his commitment to this. Would he agree that this is now urgent? For example, the number of people who were approved last year for the seagoing commitment scheme was 32, something the Secretary General of the Department of Defence told us last week. These schemes are extraordinarily complex, and hard to understand and qualify for.
Could the Minister give us an indication that he is minded to change the single pension scheme and revert to the pre-emergency payments that were in place, where people had a guarantee and commitment that they would have a good income? Could he give us an indication as to what is happening with the implementation of the working time directive and work-life balance which, I am sure he will agree, is important? I understand it at the very preliminary stages of discussion between the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and his Department. Is there any imperative to drive that forward?
I have moved very quickly on the organisation of the working time directive. There has been acceleration and significant engagement with the representative associations and bodies, Department and military management. I see the attainment and realisation of the working time directive as very important.
We have to change culture in the Naval Service and Defence Forces. I was somewhat concerned that the RACO presentation seemed to have issues with highlighting culture and talked about it being used in a maligned way. I was worried by that. The report of the independent review group was very clear that culture needed to change. I noticed a certain resistance to that idea, and I do not think it is a hundred miles away from some of the issues we have had. That needs to be faced up to, in addition to other measures on the financial and pension sides. We are looking at the pension side.
