Is rent for €12 a month the ultimate weapon in fighting Defence Forces recruitment crisis?
Allen The Gunner Gunner Serves Cummins Corporal Cork To Lunch Cook Corbett Trooper Hall Declan And Walsh Barracks, Cook Ipati, At Picture: Larry Dining Collins In House
With a starting salary of €37,000, newly qualified military recruits compare quite favourably with other professions when it comes to start-off pay. For example, a graduate nurse in their first year of qualification is paid €28,930.
Following a new deal made with the Government, which came into effect on October 1, the annual starting salary for a newly qualified primary school teacher is just over €40,000.
And a junior accountant can earn anything between €25,000 and €30,000 in their first year, although their salaries can rise quite quickly thereafter.
However, the difficulty with the Defence Forces — and one of the reasons for the retention crisis, according to PDForra, which represents about 6,500 enlisted members in the Defence Forces — is that pay does not increase significantly for recruits in the years after they enlist, unlike other professions, unless they climb the ranks.
As a result of pay, and other issues, numbers in the Defence Forces have now fallen to historically low levels. In 2015, the official figure for the number of military personnel serving in the Defence Forces was 9,350.
It has fallen consistently since then year on year and is now well below 8,000. It is accepted by all sides that this is impacting the Defence Forces' capability and one of the recommendations of the Commission on the Defence Forces is to increase the size of the military to 11,500.
An additional €55m was provided to the Defence Forces in Budget 2024, with €6m of that for recruitment, which will be used to hire 400 additional personnel
Defence and Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin said the hiring of 400 new military recruits is a “realistic target”, and that if the State “can go beyond that then we will”.
However, the budget had no explicit commitment to increase allowances for military personnel, including patrol duty allowance for Naval Service members, which military representative organisations had sought to improve retention.
However, the Defence Forces has ambitious plans to open up more live-in quarters around the country — a move it hopes will help to attract more recruits.
A total of 70 new beds were recently opened at the Haulbowline navy base and a further 34 at McKee Barracks, Dublin, last year. Ambitious plans are in place to open up 557 new beds between next year and 2027 — including the provision of additional single ensuite rooms.
While living in a barracks may not suit everyone, with soaring rents in the private rental market, particularly in urban areas, and a shortage of rental properties, it can help younger members save thousands of euros annually.
At present, there are 78 enlisted troops living in Collins Barracks, Cork along with about 40 officers. They pay just €3 per week for accommodation and €40 per week for all their meals. Recruits, while they are undergoing training, do not pay for either.
So how do those in the Defence Forces feel about life in a barracks?
Some young troops based in Collins Barracks who the spoke to gave living-in the seal of approval. In particular, they pointed to the fact they are making significant savings in terms of rent which their peers in civilian life will never be able to do.
Military barracks are normally situated in big city high-pressure rent zones like Dublin, Cork and Galway, so it makes sense, especially for young personnel, to stay in them if they can.
Latest figures show the average rent nationally is at €1,544 a month for a three-bed semi, with Dublin now €2,102 per month. Add to that extra charges for electricity, refuse collection etc. Contrast that with €3 for a bed in a barracks per week with none of these added extras.
Dimitri Ipati, 25, is the son of Moldovan parents who emigrated to Ireland when he was just six years old. His family now live in Galway, but for the past two years Dimitri has been living in Collins Barracks, apart from an overseas UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon from November 2022 to May this year.
Cummins Ground At For To Larry As Bar Shanahan Of Given Cork Weapons, The Barracks On Sergeant Introduction 1 Picture: By Collins Regiment, Artillery Train Recruits They New Army Parade
“If you want to go out [of the barracks] then you’re only five minutes from the town centre. If I want to go home to see my family in Galway I can when I’m off and I also get two free bus passes provided [by the Defence Forces] to do this every year,” he said.
Dimitri has a girlfriend in Galway and he said she is experiencing extreme difficulty getting any place to rent.
Sean Corbett, 23, from Clonmel, Co Tipperary, has also lived in the barracks for the past two years and is a gunner with the I Brigade Artillery Regiment. He’s also a fan of living in.
A proportion of the money he saves goes every week into the military credit union (Anzac).
“There are great amenities here and with the prices we are charged it just doesn’t make any sense to move outside,” he said.
Troops also have deductions made from their pay packets of €1.50 per week for the PDForra private medical insurance scheme.
Defence Minister Micheál Martin announced in in May plans to introduce free medical cover for all enlisted military personnel. It is still not clear when exactly this will become a reality — the State has provided such health cover for officers for years.
Trooper Eimear Walsh, 22, who hails from Waterford, has been living in Collins Barracks for the last eight months and says the conditions and financial savings make perfect sense.
Women have a separate accommodation block from men and there are currently seven enlisted female personnel billeted in Collins Barracks.
“We get all our meals for €40 and accommodation for €3 per week. That money is deducted before you get your wages. I might have thought about moving in with my friends [to private rental accommodation] but the costs are huge. With what we’re charged we can put money away. It helps people save for mortgages,” said Eimear who is a member of I Cavalry Squadron based in the camp.
In addition, she said if she undertakes duties such as 24-hour guard duty — which is compulsory every so often for all trained Defence Forces personnel — she is entitled to a reduction on her weekly food bill.
There are also other benefits, especially during downtime. A draught pint of Guinness or Carlsberg costs just €3.50 in any of the three bars in the barracks — for officers, NCOs (Non-Commissioned Officers), and privates which stay open from 7pm to closing time. The latest CSO consumer price index shows the average price for a pint of stout is now €5.54 in pubs across the country.
Prices in the barracks are low because the troops operate the bars themselves and there are little or no overheads. Military bars are all equipped with big screen TVs to watch major soccer, rugby and GAA matches.
Barracks also have a state-of-the-art gym, full sized grass sports pitches, a half-sized astroturf pitch, a pitch and putt course and regular yoga and keep-fit classes. The Curragh has a swimming pool and Cathal Brugha barracks in Dublin has an exceptional gym.
So where are new spaces being provided?
A new accommodation block is under construction in Collins Barrack, Cork, for 41 beds and will open next February.
A further 68 beds will be created at Renmore Barracks, Galway, with a completion date of next December. Around the same time, it is expected another refurbished block will open in Haulbowline, catering for an additional 72 enlisted personnel.
Meanwhile, separate accommodation for officer cadets at the navy base, consisting of 40 beds, is pencilled in to open in August 2025.
December 2027 will witness the opening of a new accommodation block at the new national training centre for excellence for the Defence Forces at Gormanstown, Co Meath, which will have 100 beds.
It is anticipated by July the same year a refurbishment of some blocks at Stephen’s Barracks, Co Kilkenny, will be completed to create 50 additional live-in beds.
And a block refurbishment and the development of a new building at the Defence Forces Training Centre at The Curragh, Co Kildare will create an additional 160 beds.
It is planned that the 60 beds in the refurbished block will open in June 2027, and 100 beds in the new block by that December.