Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 February 2017
48. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence further to Parliamentary Question No. 1733 of 17 January 2017, his views on the low morale in the Defence Forces in view of the high rates of voluntary discharge; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7337/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra65. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the status of the climate survey follow-on focus groups; and the process of consultation on the findings with the representative associations. [7346/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 48 and 65 together.
As the Deputy is aware, the purpose of the recently published Defence Forces Climate Survey is to inform consideration of the ongoing human resource and strategic needs of the Defence Forces. I have reviewed the Report in detail and have also received a briefing from the University of Limerick (UL) researchers who undertook the project.
The Survey findings clearly point to challenges for the Defence Forces, particularly in the areas of leadership, communication, organisational culture, the working environment and active management of personal expectations. However, many positives emanated from the Survey, especially in relation to the commitment of personnel to the values and mission of the Organisation, high levels of work satisfaction, pride in the Organisation and positive views on culture and work support. Indeed, the UL researchers point out that the findings of the Report and the recommendations are interconnected and caution should apply to reading any one particular finding in isolation.
The responses to the issues raised in the Report of the Climate Survey will involve the engagement of all levels of management within the Organisation. Both RACO and PDFORRA were briefed by the UL researchers on their findings and conclusions. Following that briefing, I met with the Representative Associations to hear their views and listen to their concerns in relation to the Report. It was agreed at the meeting that the Representative Associations would be fully engaged in the response to the Report and proposed Action Plan through the IMG framework, where they could put forward their views on appropriate responses.
Follow up work to the initial findings in the Survey was conducted by the UL researchers via focus groups with a view to establishing qualitative elements behind the quantitative findings of the Climate Survey.
73 Focus Groups were conducted throughout the Defence Forces. The Focus Groups were grouped by rank (Private, Junior NCO, Senior NCO, Junior Officer, Senior Officer), based on the findings of the Climate Survey research and were held at every permanently occupied Post /Barracks in the Defence Forces and on the Golan Heights where a contingent of the Permanent Defence Force are deployed to the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).
I have been advised that a very significant volume of raw data has been gathered for analysis. UL have informed the Defence Forces that the Focus Group analysis will be provided in Q2/Q3 2017.
