THE DEFENCE FORCES is set to be ordered to hand back millions of euro in unspent budget, the Department of Defence has confirmed.
Security sources have told The Journal that upwards of €20m could be returned to the exchequer – while the Department of Defence has blamed Covid-19 and supply chain problems for the underspend.
It is the first time in a number of years that the Defence Forces will be forced to hand back its unspent budget, rather than being able to spend it on big ticket items.
News of the unspent budget comes at a time of strong criticism of pay and conditions in the Defence Forces, with both TDs and representative bodies across the three services arguing that the organisation is in need of more money.
As previously reported by this website, the Naval Service has struggled to send ships to sea due to a lack of sailors; questions over the allocation of allowances to members; and there have been refusals to purchase heavy lift aircraft.
A senior source noted that the €20m could have been used in the purchase of two new in-shore patrol boats for the Naval Service from New Zealand, for example, as part of a deal which was recently being negotiated. The Department has refused to comment on contract issues.
The Defence Forces budget is allocated based on how many soldiers, sailors and airmen it should have, rather than the number it actually has, the source explained. This means that money that does not need to be spent on wages each year can be used towards the purchase of major items instead.
“The Defence Forces are unique in the Irish public service in the way they get their money,” the source said. “The Department of Defence know this is the situation annually so it is included in the budget for the payroll for one thousand or so people that do not exist.
“Normally they put this money towards other areas – it normally goes towards the cost of big tickets items like ships or planes and is used as down payments on these in quarter four [between October and December] every year.
“The underspend has been slotted into something every year – but that didn’t happen this year,” the source explained.
Department confirms
The Department of Defence confirmed that there would be an underspend, although declined to say how much it would be, and that it comes from savings made in wages.
“Final end-of-year figures are not available at this time. However, the current indications are that the entire 2021 allocation of €810 million [for day to day operations of the Defence Forces] will not be fully expended,” a spokesperson said.
The spokesperson noted that the annual funding is given based on a “target strength” of 9,500 personnel, but that this number is higher than the actual number of people employed.
“While the intent is to achieve this strength as soon as possible, pay savings have accrued in 2021, as in previous years,” they said.
The money would typically be used to purchase large items, but the Department said that this has been more difficult this year due to a number of factors:
“These pay savings are, as a matter of course, re-directed to other priority areas, particularly capital expenditure. However, the impact of Covid and supply chain difficulties has limited the extent of this re-directed expenditure, resulting in savings.”
Unused expenditure from day-to-day operations cannot be re-allocated to be used for pay, the spokesperson said, as that is set by Government public pay policy.
‘Overspill’
A spokesperson for the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (Raco), which represents Defence Forces personnel, said that they have been ignored when they suggested ways for more money to be spent on the DF.
They said that the unspent budget could be used to go towards towards paying personnel more money: “If the political will exists, then unspent funds can be reallocated to certain Defence Forces specific allowances,” they said.
They noted that An Garda Siochána “avails of a supplementary estimate every single year to pay additional overtime etc, as does the Department of Health.”
“The fact that our organisation has never even recorded working time, in contravention of EU law, has denied our members access to benefits such as overtime which are available to other public sector employees.
“Another obvious example of where this could be spent is the delivery of the promised long service incentives for officers, particularly of captain rank, as recommended by the pay commission in 2019, accepted by government, committed to in the High-Level Plan, agreed with the representative associations, but as yet undelivered. It’s simply a matter of trust and political will,” the spokesperson said.
Cathal Berry TD, a former senior officer in the Irish Army Ranger Wing, raised the issue of funding in the Dáil last week, saying that the Defence Forces would be “hopelessly unprepared” if there was an outbreak of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine, leading to any kind of “overspill” on Ireland’s shores.
“Whenever I’m in Europe, my counterparts in Europe always say to me that all they are asking of Ireland to do is to be able to police their own skies, be able to patrol their own waters, and not to be a burden on their neighbours from a defence security point of view,” Berry said.
“I think that’s an entirely reasonable request of a supposedly sovereign, independent Republic.”
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