Cllr 'ashamed' of treatment of defence forces
Things got heated in County Hall this week when a county councillor described Ireland’s defence forces as a “laughing stock”.
Speaking at Monday’s meeting of Cork County Council, Labour representative James Kennedy said successive governments have failed to provide Ireland’s defence forces with even basic military equipment.
He said the army is no longer a desirable career for young Irish people and that the wages we pay are “miniscule” compared to other countries.
“Other countries that haven’t half of our resources at least have the pride in themselves to have a basic functioning - be it an army, be it a navy, be it an air force,” said the Kanturk-Mallow councillor.
County Mayor Cllr Frank O’Flynn took issue with Cllr Kennedy’s remarks and said the term "laughing stock” was “a bit too strong for my taste”.
The mayor said Ireland does have a navy and an army to which Cllr Kennedy interjected: “We don’t, we don’t, we have two ships we can barely put out to sea”.
“I didn’t interrupt you,” warned Mayor O’Flynn. “We do have a navy, we do have an army, our problem is recruiting. We’re world renowned as far as peacekeeping is concerned.” Cllr Kennedy continued: “We can’t even protect our own borders, we can’t even protect our own seas, the Brits have to do it for us, we pay them a few bob. We have six ships and only two of them are barely operative, so I am ashamed - if you’re not ashamed, I’m ashamed as an Irish citizen that we’ve treated our defence forces with utter contempt with successive governments,” he added.
The discussion followed a response from the office of the Tánaiste, and Minister for both Foreign Affairs and Defence, Micheál Martin, to a motion passed by Cork County Council in July to ask why a Citizen’s Assembly on Irish neutrality was bypassed in favour of a Consultative Forum on International Security Policy. The response said the Government’s aim in holding the forum, which took place in June at UCC, was to provide an opportunity for a serious, timely, and honest conversation about the international security options available to the state.
On Monday, Independent Cllr Liam Quaide, who initially tabled the motion in July, said that while the correspondence provided some info on the process around the forum, it didn’t explain why a Citizens’ Assembly on Irish neutrality and military policy and spending was not pursued. Cllr Quaide said: “I think myself there is political fear around addressing these issues squarely, and that is regrettable because they require political leadership as we face into an increasingly unstable political world order, and one where in my view we cannot take our security for granted.”