Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Sean Clancy, will be promoted is to be made full General, making him the only man of such rank in the country’s military since Eoin O’Duffy in 1924.
News that an Irishman will for the first time chair the powerful European Union Military Committee was warmly welcomed by delegates attending PDForra’s annual conference.
Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Sean Clancy, will be promoted to full General as a result, making him the only man of such rank in the country’s military since Eoin O’Duffy in 1924.
Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Micheál Martin said the three-year appointment, which Clancy will take up next May, reflected the high standards of personnel in the Defence Forces and that the former Air Corps commander is well thought of across the EU.
He said that his appointment “comes at a crucial time for Europe, with increased regional and global instability and insecurity.”
However, the conference also heard that the Defence Forces is desperately short of the ‘backbone’ of experienced personnel it needs.
PDForra general secretary Gerard Guinan said they are short more than 600 Privates, in excess of 400 Corporals, and approximately 400 Sergeants.
“There remains an air of despondency arising from the lack of numbers and workloads in units,” Mr Guinan said.
There are Sergeant Major vacancies in areas that have gone unfilled for months, something I never thought I would see. I’m not being flippant when I say that some of the Senior NCOs I spoke to were approaching their wits end trying to maintain morale while being tasked with increased duties and responsibilities, all while not being in a position to tell those under their charge what allowances they might receive if they undertake the additional work being assigned to the unit.
Mr Guinan said his association, which represents more than 6,500 enlisted personnel, fears, like RACO which represents officers, that a new bill going through the Oireachtas could ‘gag’ the association from highlighting issues within the Defence Forces.
However, Mr Martin told media at a press conference that there will be no restrictions on the representative associations’ right to debate issues and they “won’t be stymied” in airing their views.
Mr Martin said the Government is “aggressively ramping up” the recruitment drive and expects to get 400 recruits trained this year.
PDFOrra is also looking for the speeding up of the introduction of the EU Working Time Directive to the Defence Forces. Up to now the Army, Naval Service and Air Corps have been exempt from it.
Mr Guinan said members of the Defence Forces are facing increasing ‘burn-out’ because of the excessive hours they are working to plug the gaps in personnel numbers and something has to be done to address this as it’s driving experienced people out of the military.
Mr Martin said that he has approved an agreed policy on the removal of the blanket exemption.
“Our next step here is to progress the necessary legislative changes. As part of this process, my officials are currently engaging with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment who have responsibility for bringing forward the appropriate legislative framework. We will be working proactively with that department to bring forward the legislation as quickly as possible,” he said.
“The implementation of the Working Time Directive is rightly seen as an important retention measure, and will ensure that health and safety protections, as prescribed in the directive, are afforded to serving personnel,” Mr Martin added.