Defence Forces
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-17
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Seán Crowe (SF), Dublin South-West

The most serious issue in our Defence Forces over the past 20 years has been the decline in personnel numbers and the brain drain of highly trained specialist personnel.
The core of this issue are pay, conditions and career progression. Of the 43 delayed projects, 12 are in the area of human resources and career development, while another two are to do with pay and conditions. How can we ever expect to truly solve our recruitment and retention problem if we do not address the elephant in the room, that being, we have almost destroyed a life in the Defence Forces as a viable career? Poor pay, poor conditions, poor pensions, and overtime policies in breach of the European Social Charter. When will the Government commit to getting these deadlines back on track and repair some of the damage done to the Defence Forces?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:38+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-17