Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 October 2022
111. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Defence if he will outline the progress that is being made on the further evaluation being carried out on the issue of long-service increments in the Defence Forces; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48817/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy is aware, the Commission on the Defence Forces was established on foot of a commitment in the Programme for Government. I welcomed the publication of the report of the Commission on 9th February last. 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.
Given the significant recommendations contained in the Report, detailed consideration of these recommendations was undertaken over a period of 5 months by my Department and the Defence Forces. This involved significant inter-departmental consultation, and I and my officials have engaged with key stakeholders to ascertain their views. Following this engagement, I returned to Government with a High Level Action Plan which was approved on July 12th of this year. As part of this, Government approved a move over a six-year period to a level of Defence Forces’ capability equivalent to ‘Level of Ambition 2’ (LOA2), as set out in the capability framework devised by the Commission, which will entail funding increases to reach a defence budget of c. €1.5 billion (at January 2022 prices) by 2028 through the annual Estimates.
The High Level Action Plan set out proposed implementation and oversight structures, and the Implementation Oversight Group met for the first time on the 3rd of October. A civil/military Implementation Management Office 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 is the implementation of the 38 early actions as set out in the High Level Action Plan and the development of a detailed Implementation Plan. Reporting mechanisms have been established to facilitate regular progress reports on the early actions to the IMO and the civil/military Strategic Management Committee.
One of the recommendations contained in the Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces related to introducing Long Service Increments to the pay scales of all ranks of enlisted personnel. Though Long Service Increments exist in certain instances in the public sector, including certain ranks of the Defence Forces, they are not universal and as such, further evaluation is required on this recommendation, in order to ascertain how this could be progressed. Preliminary discussions on this recommendation have been undertaken as part of the development of the High Level Action Plan. Further evaluation of this recommendation will be progressed as one of the 38 early actions to be completed within 6 months of Government’s decision.
