Defence Forces: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-21 ============================================================ Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland It is good, now that this issue has been raised for years, that some progress is beginning to be made on pay and conditions for our Defence Forces. The motion addresses the specifics of pay and conditions. I welcome that it also raises the crucial question of representation, calls for Defence Force chaplains to be allowed to have membership of representative associations and calls for proper measures around the working time directive and on making decent employment available and accessible to members of the Defence Forces. Those are positive components of the motion, which I support. I very much echo the support expressed by previous speakers for the amendment on bullying and sexual harassment. We know these have been issues within the Defence Forces and they need to be seriously addressed. I commend Senator Tom Clonan in particular on his work on the amendment. Speaking about the pay, conditions and support for our Defence Forces is crucial but it needs to be teased out from the massive shift we are seeing on a wider level towards huge expenditure on military and defence. This expenditure is largely not going to the Defence Forces and pay and conditions. It is going to some of the industries that are profiting extraordinarily from a climate in which military expenditure is being ramped up. The finance committee did a report, which was published in December, examining the €800 billion being pushed as EU expenditure. Much of that money is being routed away from social cohesion funding, which we know in Ireland is what builds peace between communities. I have just come from a meeting of the environment committee where we heard about the proposal to move LIFE funding, which funds projects on the ground in Mayo, Clare, Roscommon and across the country, and in the Natura communities. These projects are exactly what we are always calling for in the environmental area. They actually pay landowners and local communities for doing work on biodiversity and climate. That funding could potentially be rerouted into security and defence as well. These are the things that are part of the peaceful world we all want to work for. They are part of our collective security and environmental security. The motion focuses on the right areas, which need support. While I agree that we need ships, it is in a context of a defence spending narrative which is risking our collective security and integrity within the European Union. I am signalling the report from the joint committee on finance because it is very relevant. We specifically called for fair and equitable pay and conditions and increased resourcing for recruitment, retention and the well-being of members of the Defence Forces. We also highlighted the dangers arising from a €150 billion loan programme that Ireland has been asked to underwrite. We have the resources and there is nothing that has stopped the State from delivering pay and conditions for many years. We are not dependent on Europe in that regard but we are contributing potentially to a €150 billion loan programme, which will give €16 billion to Hungary, a state teetering on the brink of authoritarianism. It was directly confirmed by the Commission, when its officials met the committee, that this money will be given over to the manufacture and purchase of cluster munitions and landmines. Let us have the discussions and support our Defence Forces through the kinds of measures sought in the motion. We can do that, while also having a critical voice on areas of defence spending that are risking our collective security and our future when we look to the impact military expenditure can have on our environment. There are also moral issues such as the use of cluster bombs. I am hoping we can get that balance. I say this too because that is also a small part of the recruitment and retention issues. I say this having spoken to people who have been in the Naval Service. People have spoken. We all remember the powerful testimonies of those on the naval ships who saved lives in the Mediterranean Sea. At one point, Ireland was saving 8,000 lives a year in the Mediterranean, but we moved on from that. I remember the moment. The then Minister of State, Paul Kehoe, said that we were moving from a primarily humanitarian function to a primarily security function with Operation Sophia, and then we stopped saving lives. The number of lives saved went down to 2,000 before Operation Sophia abandoned search and rescue altogether. I know naval officers who left the service. I know members of the Army who put up with disgraceful pay and conditions because they are proud, knowing that they are in an Army that serves a neutral country, that is always about principles and serving humanity rather than interests, that works under the UN and that has a record they can be very proud of. That is also something we need to address so that people can continue to be confident in what the future will be for them if they join the Irish armed forces. That is a linking piece, along with pay and conditions, which I hope we can also address. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-21/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:31+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-01-21