Morale in the Defence Forces badly hit amid crisis of mass exodus

THE Defence Forces are struggling to cope with a manpower crisis as the numbers leaving the military almost match those coming in.

The strength of the organisation, according to the latest figures, is 8,923, the lowest number for decades.

This compares with the establishment figure of 9,500 and is despite successful recruitment campaigns over the past couple of years.

Figures compiled for an 11month period from September last year up to the end of July show that the Defence Forces recruited 699 personnel.

But over the same period the organisation lost 632 members – a net gain of 67 people, or 0.7pc.

The main reason for the massive exodus from the military is poor pay and the Government so far does not appear to have any plans to overcome that problem.

The troops had been banking on the outcome of a review of their wages by the Public Service Pay Commission, which selected workers in the health service and Defence Forces for priority examination.

Flow

As a result of the findings on the health service, however, it now seems that any favourable recommendations from the commission will focus on specialist groups in the military rather than raising the overall rate of pay, which is the lowest in the public sector.

But that will have little impact in stemming the flow of personnel out of the Defence Forces.

Many of those leaving are highly experienced and have skills that are in big demand in the private sector and attract better pay rates.

It will take several years to recover from this brain drain, even if corrective action is taken by the Government before the end of 2018 by sanctioning improved pay.

PDFORRA, which represents soldiers, sailors and air crew, said last night it was extremely concerned that military strength had dropped to 8,923 and was worried that it could fall further, given the significant exodus rate recently from the Naval Service.

The shortage of crew for the Naval ships also created health and safety issues, the association added.

RACO, which represents military officers, pointed out that the failure to prevent the loss of so many of its members was financially counter productive, as well as badly affecting morale.