The Minister for Defence has been accused of "cosmetic consultation" with military representatives, following his decision to backtrack on a key recommendation in the Price Waterhouse review of the Naval Service and Air Corps.
Mr John Lucey, secretary-general of PDFORRA, said that the Minister, Mr Smith, and his Department were "running their own agenda" and were not interested in consulting or negotiating with the Defence Forces. Representative organisations were being treated with complete disrespect, he said.
The Fine Gael junior defence spokesman, Mr Billy Timmins, also criticised the Minister's move to backtrack on the appointment of an independent chairperson who would oversee implementation of the Price Waterhouse review. Mr Timmins called on the Minister yesterday to explain why his Department commissioned expensive reports and then "ignored that expert advice".
"The Minister may be providing a buffer for the Department, which is using the camouflage of the Army deafness compensation to scale down the Defence Forces," Mr Timmins said.
"For the first time in the history of the State, members of the Defence Forces and the Minister are on a collision course, as suspicions deepen about his bona fides in the whole affair," he added.
RACO, the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers, has condemned the decision to ditch the independent chair of the implementation group and has predicted that none of the positive recommendations in the consultants' review of the Naval Service and Air Corps will now be implemented before the next century.
A senior official in the Department of Defence at secretary-general or assistant secretary level is expected to be appointed to chair the group, which will be set up within the next month, according to the Minister.
Mr Smith has stressed that the final decisions will be taken by him and has denied that he intends to implement cuts before recruiting additional staff. He has also denied that all the recommendations will be stalled until publication of the White Paper on Defence.
The Price Waterhouse review recommended a £235 million re-equipment plan for the Naval Service and Air Corps, increased staff for the former and a cut in staff for the latter, and greater cost-efficiency, among other measures.
It also confirmed the multitasking capabilities of both defence wings, at a time when the Department of the Marine has been seeking to privatise fisheries protection and search and rescue.
"The loss of the independent chair is disastrous," Mr Lucey said yesterday.
"Politically, the Minister is now protecting the Army. Given the cap on defence spending, the Army will understandably resist any extra expenditure on the Naval Service and Air Corps," he said.
