The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, was met with placards in Co Cork yesterday when he arrived at Fitzgerald Barracks, Fermoy, to discuss its closure.
Mr Smith was visiting both the Fermoy Barracks and the Murphy Barracks, Cork, which is also due for closure.
Between the two barracks, almost 300 soldiers will be offered early retirement or a transfer to Collins Barracks, Cork, one of the main barracks in Munster.
The placards at Fitzgerald Barracks were carried by the National Army Spouses Association. A spokesperson for the group, Ms Marion Aherne, said the decision to close the barracks was a tragic day for Fermoy.
She said the Minister had been contemptible in the manner in which he had treated Army families and had broken faith with the Army Corps.
At a recent meeting of PDFORRA, the Army representative body, it was suggested that there would be no transfer from the Fermoy camp to the Cork barracks.
Ms Aherne said the meeting had been told there would be no decisions and that families would not be moved until there had been full negotiations.
"The treatment of families has been disgraceful. There is no compensation offer and no relocation offer."
She said Fermoy had a history of a military presence going back 300 years. Effectively, the town was still a garrison town and heavily dependent on the troops staying there.
Mr Smith said hard decisions had to be taken and he would not shirk from them. However, he was sympathetic to local grievances and would do as much as he could to meet local concerns.
However, he added: "I'm sick and tired of talking about billets that date back to the 1930s. It's disgraceful that they are still in use."
The Minister said Collins Barracks, Cork, to which soldiers from both Co Cork barracks would be transferred, would be upgraded at a cost of £6 million. This would include a new gym and an NCOs' mess.
The Minister has decided that the new role for the Army involves peace-keeping. Therefore, in the modern context, as is the case in most other armies, the Irish Defence Forces will not be billeted in obsolete barracks but will be computer-driven and stationed in modern buildings.
At one stage during the press conference in Fermoy, Mr Smith appeared to lose his temper when it was suggested to him that he had promised to the Defence Forces the opposite of what was happening now.
Mr Smith said he had not done a U-turn. The policy now being put in place was the best possible scenario for the Army.