Senator Gerard Craughwell - speech from 28 Sep 2021

Minister, you're very welcome to the house. At the outset I want to thank you for taking the time to meet those women today. I do want to place on record the concern my colleagues, former colleagues in the Defence Forces have, the nature of the complaints being brought forward by the women of honour, brave women that they are, tend, the things they talk about, tend to happen behind closed doors and in secret. And the few perpetrators that are involved in this horrendous activity have brought the entire organisation into disrepute. And I think that the independent inquiry that you're setting up will hopefully get to the bottom of it and kill the culture that exists amongst those that perpetrate that. At the outset I can't speak on defence and not speak about the over 50s contract. That needs urgent attention and the army ranger wing and the tech pay issues that are outstanding. It was interesting to hear my colleague from Fine Gael speaking about the re-establishment of the 3rd Brigade. You and I have discussed that in the past and I wish Senator Kerry going well as he drives that one home. Colin Barrick's in Mullingar. The local community are looking for a resource there and I think it's a wonderful resource. You might engage with them. Anyway, we're not here to discuss those things. We're here to discuss the Defence Amendment Bill 2021. I very much welcome the legislation and I would like to put on record of this House the work of my colleague Deputy Cahill Berry in his work in driving this legislation forward with you, Minister. And I want to congratulate you for your foresight into the benefits the Reserve Defence Forces can bring to deployments overseas. It's a truly historic day for the loyal members of the Reserve Defence Forces who for decades have wanted to play a part in Ireland's peacekeeping role and other overseas missions. And it's finally here. It really is a defining moment for the Reserve Defence Forces. As a former training sergeant of the 5th Field Medical Corps in Galway, which was an FCA unit back in those days, I know my former colleagues would be delighted at this legislation coming forward. In a recent piece of research by Nicholas Canavan, an MA student at Galway, on the lived experience of Defence Force personnel, he found that overseas deployment constituted as one of the main highlights of all participants in military careers. Respondents said that their experiences afford personal new and unique viewpoints of life, unlike what any other profession could provide. And I know, Minister, that you have gone overseas and met members of the Defence Forces, and I know that you engage with the many opportunities you get. We'd love it to be more. Your Foreign Affairs role takes up a lot of your time, and I do know that. But I know that you understand the benefits of overseas service to serving personnel. The passing of this legislation can be nothing more than an exercise unless it's commenced. And Minister, I've got to ask you today, when do you propose to commence the legislation? Will we see members of the Reserve Defence Forces overseas in 2022? That is a really important issue for them. In welcoming the legislation, I must emphasise that the focus of the Government must remain on retaining and support programmes for the permanent Defence Force members to facilitate overseas deployment. The role of reservists must be niche specialist areas such as cyber and medical. Can you imagine the experience young surgeons might get overseas where some of the horrific accidents that take place, treating those accidents, it would be invaluable to them. So, that experience short, sorry, which may experience, it's about the Defence Forces experience in short, it is due to an inability to retain suitably qualified and experienced personnel. There must be no impact on the permanent Defence Forces training or future training systems in order to professionalise them, bring them up to speed, commensurate with the expertise that we would be bringing in from the RDF from time to time. If you are serious about deploying our professional RDF personnel overseas, then they must be adequately trained and equipped for overseas service and their families supported when they go overseas. Minister, commencing this legislation without adequate employment protection legislation means it simply will not work. A useful place to start might be with your colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, who could deal with public servants and people working for the State who volunteered to go overseas, where he or she could guarantee the employment of reserve volunteers who go overseas, that it would not impact their career trajectory, that it would not impact their career trajectory, that it would not impact any pension rights that they may have and things like that. We could start there as a pilot project before we start to bring in the private sector. Enabling the legislation immediately will provide the Permanent Defence Forces with the ability to alleviate the burden of Permanent Defence Forces members who are currently experiencing high frequency of mandatory selection for overseas service. It is having a detrimental impact on their morale and on their family life. This would be an ideal opportunity to augment that. We all know that the Reserve Defence Forces is 60% below strength, but the legislation has the potential to reverse that in your speech and reverse the decline of the force. I honestly believe that this is a defining moment for the Reserves and I can only encourage it in legislation and those who will be listening to this legislation who have not joined the Reserve Defence Forces to join it. Now Minister, you mentioned two areas which I feel obliged to mention today. One was miners. It is no secret that I joined the FCA when I was 13 and I joined the Army when I was 16 and a half. For me, it was a positive experience the whole way. I would ask you to look over the water and see the boy soldier, girl soldier academies that exist in the United Kingdom. There is a tremendous advantage in bringing young people through a military discipline at a very young age and it feeds into the Defence Forces at large. Now I know people will probably be aghast at me saying that, but it works extremely well in the UK and it works in other countries around the world and it is something that you might look into. Finally, on the issue of COVID-19, I want to express my pride in the Defence Forces in the work that they did. Minister, there are people talking about this particular profession did more than that particular profession in the area of COVID-19. Nurses and doctors were frontline workers, so they should get this, that or the other. It is my view, everybody, truck drivers, soldiers, doctors, nurses, everybody that put their shoulder to the wheel. If there is something to be done by way of a public holiday or by way of a bonus, then everybody should get it, not just the ones who were in hospital. They were well protected with PPE, whereas bus drivers had to face the public with nothing but their suit on them or their ordinary clothes. Truck drivers had to go in and collect goods, not knowing who they were collecting from. So I think we should hold everybody in equal esteem. Nobody did any better than anybody else. And I will finally finish by saying the Government did a fantastic job over the last two years. The acting Government we had in place after the election did phenomenal work, and the Government itself did really great work during this COVID-19 crisis. I would love to have a go at the Government any chance I get, but sometimes you have to be honest and congratulate them for the work they did do. So, Minister, I will get another chance to have a go. You might send me overseas. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Senator. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Senator Kro slot. We'll descrição maybe a new department. Thank you. I'll let you um that茶 and茶 and write me in the past five times and listen. Thank you, Senator Kro Penny.