I move:—
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £984,487 chun slánuithe na suime is gá chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1935, chun costais an Airm agus Chúltaca an Airm (maraon le Deontaisí áirithe i gCabhair) fé sna hAchtanna Fórsaí Cosanta (Forálacha Sealadacha); chun costaisí áirithe riaracháin ina thaobh san; agus chun costaisí fén Acht Bunreachta (Leasú Uimh. 17), 1931.
That a sum not exceeding £984,487 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1935, for the cost of the Army and the Army Reserve (including certain Grants-in-Aid) under the Defence Forces. (Temporary Provisions) Acts; certain administrative expenses in connection therewith; and Expenses under the Constitution (Amendment No. 17) Act, 1931.
The Army Estimate for the regular Army for the financial year 1934-35 is based on an establishment of 560 officers and 5,350 other ranks. The number of other ranks is the same as that in the Estimate for 1933-34, but the number of officers shows an increase of five. The figure of 560 includes 20 officers specially commissioned in connection with the new Volunteer force. The actual officer strength at the end of March was 547, so that the figure of 560 allows for the promotion to commissioned rank of 13 cadets at present serving in the Military College, who, if they pass the necessary tests and examinations, will be eligible for commissions during the financial year.
The number of cadets provided for is 15 against 28 in the previous year, and the reduction is due entirely to the limitation in the number of new entrants. In this connection it should be observed that non-commissioned officers of a suitable type are, from time to time, selected to undergo courses for commissioned rank at the college, and it is anticipated that during the present year there will be about four such non-commissioned officers who will be eligible for commissions.
Under the heading of re-entries, provision has been made for the re-entry into Army service of 300 other ranks over an average period of three months. This provision is to enable reservists who show particular aptitude to extend their term of training so that they may undergo intensive courses of instruction in the specialist branches of Army service, and thus render themselves capable of undertaking the task of instruction.
Class "A" reserve is composed of soldiers who serve a number of years with the colours, and the remainder of their term of enlistment on the reserve. The provision for this force has had to be increased from 4,700 to 5,200 other ranks. The increase is practically authomatic inasmuch as it depends directly on the number of men whose time with the colours will have expired, and who will, therefore, be due for transfer to the reserve during the year. The financial provision for 5,200 has, however, been reduced by 20 per cent., because it has been found that the numbers reporting for annual training are about 70-80 per cent. of those on the reserve rolls.
Class "B" reserve is composed of soldiers who, having served three months with the regular Army, are transferred to the reserve in which they serve the remainder of their term of enlistment. Recruiting for this force has practically ceased for some time past, and the number provided for has, therefore, been reduced from 3,500 to 2,500. The actual strength at the end of March was approximately 2,700, and when allowance has been made for wastage and for soldiers not reporting for annual training, it will be seen that even the reduced financial provision should be adequate to meet requirements. In point of fact and of policy this force will gradually disappear.
The provision for the Volunteer reserve is based on the actual strength of 358 all ranks obtaining when the Estimate was compiled. It is intended in due course that this arm will be absorbed in the new Volunteer force, and consequently no provision has been made for any increase in it.
As regards the Officers' Training Corps, provision has been made for 700 cadets as against 650 in the previous year's Estimate. The actual strength at the end of March was about 698, so that the provision is practically based on the existing strength of the corps.
The number of personnel provided for the Officers' Reserve remains at the same figure as in the previous year's Estimates. Finally, as regards the new Volunteer force, provision has been made for the annual training of 300 who were enlisted before the end of March, for the initial or annual training of 12,000 to be enlisted during the present financial year, for enlistment grants in respect of 14,000, and of training grants for 20,000 volunteers. The policy and organisation of this force have already been fully outlined to the Dáil when the Supplementary Estimates were taken on February 7th, 1934.
Turning from the aspect of establishments to that of finance, it will be observed that the present as compared with the previous year's original Estimate shows a net increase of £223,417. Of this amount £196,116 is directly attributable to the new Volunteer force, and £6,000 to expenses in connection with the Constitution (Amendment) Act, so that there is only a nett increase of £21,301 on the original Estimate as submitted last year. This amount, together with any decrease on certain sub-heads, has been utilised in providing partly for the increased numbers of class "A" reserve, but mainly in providing for technical courses, equipment and material for all corps and services of the Army. The increased expenditure on technical equipment and material finds ready justification in the very fact that the regular Army is a small one, and that the smaller the Army the more intensive must be its training, the more highly organised its units, and the more specialised its equipment and weapons. The policy of the State as regards the Army is briefly to have a small highly trained standing Army which will serve as a pivot around which may be organised, developed and trained the entire reserve and Volunteer forces and, if necessary, the entire man-power of the State, and to that end the Army itself is being and will be provided with the most intensive training and the most up-to-date arms and equipment which the State can afford.
Hitherto we have more or less concentrated on providing the artillery with suitable guns, but the time has now come when the needs of the other corps and services and infantry must be seen to. In the present Estimate we are taking steps in that direction. Thus Army educational schools for soldiers will be increased and equipped and specialist military courses abroad will be provided for specially selected officers. For the infantry we are testing the value of new self-loading rifles; we are providing more portable light machine guns, and we are making a beginning with the most modern pattern of trench mortar. For the Armoured Car Corps we are providing light tanks, and we are enabling the corps to bring its cars up-to-date. The Signal Corps will have a new mobile wireless car to enable it to communicate with aircraft in flight; wireless sets to permit of intercommunication between armoured cars operating at a distance, and its telephonic system will be modernised. Such equipment costs money, but it is money economically spent, for if there is to be an Army at all it is in the long view more economical that it should be an effective instrument of defence rather than a weapon that cannot be relied upon in an emergency. Moreover, in carrying out this policy every effort will be made to make the Army self-reliant and as far as possible self-contained. The Army will in fact be made as far as possible to adapt itself to the State's economic policy of self-reliance and self-sufficiency.
Modern types of technical materials and weapons will be purchased, but no endeavour will be spared to produce and find the requirements of the Army within the country, so that it will be independent as far as possible of foreign stores. Thus the construction of a munition factory continues to engage active attention, and during the year it is hoped that some of our plans will reach fruition. The Air Corps is about to embark on a scheme of training boy mechanics who will be instructed in the detailed assembly of aircraft, and on the repair and maintenance of aero engines. During the year it will undertake the reconstruction of two crashed aircraft, and as soon as the boys are trained and the personnel have acquired the necessary experience, the general assembly of all Army aircraft will be undertaken. Incidentally such trained technical personnel should in due time prove a valuable asset to this country in the development of civil aviation. The Armoured Car Corps will recondition and modernise their own cars; the Signal Corps will bring their own equipment up-to-date, and will fit out the radio van intended for communication with aircraft, and finally, the Ordnance Corps will undertake the manufacture, or at least the assembly, of field kitchens needed for each corps and service of the Army.
Such in outline is the Army policy on which the present Estimate has been framed. At this point it may be well to emphasise that the moral and physical, as distinct from the technical qualities of the Army, are of the highest possible character. During the last financial year about 600 recruits were enlisted for Army service, and the average strength of the Army fluctuated around the figure of 5,700. Out of that number we had only 14 deaths, and of these three were due to accidents in the air; and the percentage of casualties, due to illness, was only just over 2 per cent. As regards the moral qualities of the Army, the discipline, loyalty and enthusiasm of the soldier, it may be pointed out that during the whole year we lost only 25 men through desertion, a fact which bears testimony to the good relations existing between officers and men, to the admirable conditions under which the men serve, and the high morale of the troops generally. In this connection also, it should be observed that during the combined exercises our young soldiers with full kit carried out for a fortnight long marches daily, despite much physical hardship and discomfort, and that not a single complaint was received from any of the four counties in which they operated reflecting on their conduct or discipline.
The two outstanding events in the Army during the past year were the combined exercises and the inception of the new Volunteer force. The later is now getting into its stride. The area officers have taken up their duties: 151 Sluaighte Committees have been formed and 24 are in course of formation and the first batch of the new formation were sufficiently advanced in training to take their part in the annual parade on St. Patrick's Day.
As regards the combined exercises, it must be noted at the outset that field exercises are an essential element of training in all arms, because through them alone can be tested the theoretical training given to officers in schools and colleges, and the collective training of separate units. No exercises of this nature had been carried out in the Army since 1926, and even then the exercises were of an elementary character, being confined to infantry units with a small detachment of other arms. There was, however, no real test of the system of command, staff and supply. The exercises carried out during the past year were of a more searching and ambitious character. A reinforced field brigade of all arms about 4,000 strong was pitted against a skeleton force of about 1,000 strong, specially organised for mobility and consisting of armoured forces, horse cavalry, air corps, and three small infantry battalions, to afford necessary fire cover. Both forces had their own system of command, staff and supply. The general object aimed at was to test the effectiveness of a non-mechanised against a highly mechanised force, but the special object was to test the theoretical lessons imparted at the Military College and subsidiary schools. In both directions valuable information was obtained. The system of command was thoroughly tried out, and was found to be proceeding on the right lines. Staff work was found to be particularly good, and the system of supply was shown to be most efficient. Night after night, for 14 days, 120 tons of food, forage and petrol were loaded 20 miles from the front lines, and were successfully delivered and distributed under the cover of darkness, to each unit in the field, so that men and horses were fed, vehicles were replenished, and the forces were ready at dawn to restart their operations.
The air corps continues to render any service which civil aviation may call for. It provides landing and accommodation facilities not only for the Irish Aero Club, but for any visiting aircraft. Repairs were carried out, but care is taken to ensure that such repairs cannot be done elsewhere by local commercial firms. Sites for proposed aerodromes or landing sites are inspected for the purpose of seeing that international requirements are complied with: applicants for commercial or private flying certificates are examined: aircraft are inspected for the purpose of registration and the renewal of certificates of airworthiness: and regulations are now being drawn up concerning the conditions which should govern the airworthiness of aircraft generally.
Finally, the equitation team continues to renew its previous successes. During the past year it participated at horse shows held in Nice, Rome, Brussels, Lucerne, Chicago, New York, Toronto and Berlin. The cost to the State of seven of these shows—the figures for Berlin are not yet available—is approximately £2,199, but this was offset by prize money amounting to £717, so that the net cost to the State was only £1,482. The prize money represented 9 first places, 11 seconds, 12 thirds, 8 fourths, 4 fifths, and 12 other placings. The primary purpose of the equitation team attending these shows is to advertise the Irish hunter and the Irish horse breeding industry generally, but the team also serves other national purposes. Their contact with foreign officers engenders a spirit of comradeship between armies; their sportsmanship in friendly rivalry excites feelings of admiration and goodwill in the countries they are visiting, and their victories in crowded arenas demonstrate to the ordinary citizens of foreign lands better than any diplomatic missions the fact of this country's distinct nationhood and sovereignty.
