Is the Minister for Defence aware of the serious unrest in the Army resulting from the recent appointment of a non-recommended person to a clerical position at the Curragh Army Camp and will he inform Dáil Éireann, as a matter of urgency, of the circumstances surrounding this appointment? This is a very serious matter and I wish to thank the Chair for giving us the opportunity to discuss it and also the Minister for being present. I wish to share my time with Deputy Power, a former Minister for Defence.
We wish to ascertain the facts relating to the appointment of a person to the position of clerical officer, Grade III, in the NCO section of the Army at the Curragh Army Barracks, County Kildare. There has been widespread dissatisfaction of late because of several civilian appointments which have been made in the Army. This dissatisfaction has culminated in the proposed appointment of a Mr. Culla to this aforementioned Grade III clerical position. Mr. Culla was an applicant for this position although not employed by the Army which leads to several questions which the Minister for Defence must answer clearly in this House tonight. First, was this position advertised publicly? If so, when, where and who was in charge of scrutinising the applicants? Secondly, was this position advertised internally among the existing Army staff? If so, was this the only advertising done, how was the post declared vacant to existing Army staff and when was this done?
These are very important questions. There are about 2,000 civilian staff in our Army and in proportion to the size of the Army that is very high and would not compare favourably with the ratio of civilian staff in other armies throughout the world. From this pool of experience and resources there must be an ample number of applicants with the necessary skills, expertise, ability and experience to fill this post adequately. Moreover, Army work at this level is much different from the ordinary, run-of-the-mill clerical work that clerical officers do in private and public sector offices. It would be much more varied than the normal Army duties which would be strictly military administration. More important, due to the peculiar and particular work in Army duties like this there is the necessity to ensure that equality of opportunity with regard to promotion prevails for all staff who are available in such large numbers in the civilian section of our Army.
The Minister seems to have totally gone outside the normal criteria in making such appointments. The interview board found the aforementioned person unsuitable for the post and did not recommend him. Normally the Minister would appoint some person from the recommended suitable list but on this occasion the Minister chose to ignore this list. He proceeded to appoint the aforementioned person to this prestigious position which carries a salary of approximately £10,000 per annum. This is very sad because the person concerned is employed at present. What about the young jobless people? What about the 200,000 people out of work? What about the hopes and aspirations of young people leaving school or those who have left school in the past two or three years and who are still unemployed? What type of Government standards and Government leadership is this for those people who are in this hopeless situation?
There is another reason why this Mr. Culla was recommended for appointment to the position. It appears his father is a close friend of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Dukes, the person in charge of our national finances. This is what makes it all the more serious. We recognise the right of the Minister for Defence to make certain decisions vis-à-vis Army administration but when we find another Minister conspiring to have one of his friends appointed to this very important position it brings into the public forum the whole question of the integrity of the Government. It shows the vice-like grip that Deputy Dukes has on the whole Cabinet operation. Through him the Taoiseach is imposing penal measures on all our citizens and we have to suffer severe reductions with regard to our public services.
I should like to ask the Minister if normal criteria were applied in this situation. In other appointments that were made lists were furnished but some names were not on the lists and the lists were returned. Other names were added and requests were made for more interviews. The people interviewed on the second occasion were not placed on the recommended list but yet they were appointed. We recognise that the Minister for Defence has a delicate and sensitive portfolio. We recognise the contribution of our Army and the important contribution made by all staff in the Army. We realise that it must be seen that the Army cannot be the victim of political interference. It is vital that there be equality of opportunity. There is considerable skill and expertise in all sectors of our Army. We should like the Minister to clear up the situation. He is the man charged with administering the Army. We do not want to see the democratic powers vested in him usurped in any way to ensure that political friends are appointed to prestigious posts.
