Tánaiste: Navy can staff three of its ships despite recruitment crisis
Picture: Bernard Eddie In The Irish O'hare Shaw Vessel Docked Amongst Naval George The At Others Naval Base Haulbowlin
Tánaiste Micheál Martin has claimed the navy has the capacity to staff three out of four ships but admitted the situation is “critical” in terms of recruitment and retention.
His comments come as the reported that a shortage of sailors resulted in none of the navy’s four ship-fleet, worth €280m, being able to go out on patrol.
There is now a critical shortage of able seamen and the crewing crisis has left its four modern ships — LÉ Samuel Beckett, LÉ James Joyce, LÉ WB Yeats, and LÉ George Bernard Shaw — tied up at the Haulbowline navy base in Cork harbour.
However, Mr Martin insisted there is capacity to staff three ships and said they are operational.
All of the country’s navy ships were docked in the port last Saturday despite concerns over the presence of two Russian ships off the west coast.
Mr Martin said there tends to be “a lot of noise in and around the Russian situation” and he has been in touch with the Defence Forces on the matter which he said is “carefully monitored.”
Mr Martin announced on Wednesday that he has sought Cabinet approval to deploy a naval vessel for a period of seven weeks during June and July as part of the EU Common Security and Defence Policy’s 'Operation Irini'.
The main task of the mission is to prevent arms trafficking into Libya as well as training the Libyan Coast Guard and Navy and disrupting human trafficking networks.
The Tánaiste admitted there are “very serious issues” with recruitment and retention in the navy but said the Government has approved a significant increase in starting pay for people moving into the navy, up to €37,000.
He said he has engaged with the arms of the Defence Forces — Air Corps, the Navy and the Army — in terms of what measures the State can take to recruit better, make it more attractive, and to retain staff.
He said following the Independent Review Group (IRG) findings last week, the issue of staffing is not just about pay and conditions, and "culture is key."
“I think there's practices and work conditions around the navy that could be changed in respect of length of time at sea,” he said.
“And those are the areas that I'm focusing on.”
He said he has given instructions that he wants the work in relation to bringing the Organisation of Working Time directive into the Defence Forces accelerated “because that's also important in terms of the quality of the experience of all those working in Defence Forces".
Meanwhile, a four-day National Forum on Ireland’s international security policy will be based on the principles of a Citizen's Assembly model and will examine security policy options and what any changes would mean for Ireland's neutrality. Addressing concerns the forum could result in changes to Ireland's neutrality, Mr Martin said he is fully aware people have different perspectives on the issue.
He said the forum will have "no pre-conceived ideas" and will allow for submissions from members of the public and differing perspectives, and that it is "important we have this debate".