Source from the Representative Association of Commissioned Officer said that the LÉ William Butler Yeats didn’t go on sea patrol yesterday because it was short a technical specialist. Picture: Defence Forces
The Naval Service is “living on borrowed time” with just 709 fully-trained people left and the expectation a further ship could be tied soon due to the deepening personnel crisis.
That’s the view of RACO (Representative Association of Commissioned Officer) sources who told the that one ship, LÉ William Butler Yeats, didn’t go on sea patrol yesterday because it was short a technical specialist.
Officers fear this trend will accelerate due to an acute shortage of specialists across a number of areas. The Naval Service’s minimum strength is supposed to be 1,094 fully-trained personnel.
There are supposed to be 19 Lieutenant Marine Engineers, but there are only nine left and without them ships can’t sail. The Naval Service is also critically short of communications operatives, fitters, medics, and chefs.
They have had to draft in Army communications specialists and also drafted in the Army and civilian workers to help maintain operations at the Fisheries Monitoring Centre at Naval Service headquarters.
Sources have expressed fears for the safety of personnel going to sea as crew numbers are at a minimum on ships and many are inexperienced – 60% of them have less than three years’ service.
“The Naval Service is living on borrowed time. We’re only operating because of the huge sacrifices being made by the personnel who remain,” one RACO source said.
Another pointed out that they needed to train around 120 recruits this year, but got less than half that number.
“As well as that we barely even have the capacity to find instructors to train them,” he said.
Meanwhile, more people are paying to get their discharge from the navy.
RACO says Naval Service personnel, who are part of what is the State’s primary sea-going agency, “are being taken advantage of because they are not unionised and will not go on strike.” RACO wants the daily Patrol Duty Allowance (PDA) paid to those on sea patrols to be significantly increased.
The association points out the major difference in payments to members of other agencies for sea-going duties.
The PDA for the Naval Service per day is €58.86 before tax. Customs personnel get €105 per day before tax. Sea Fisheries Protection Officers get €147 after tax, and members of the Marine Institute receive €270 before tax.
The PDA is paid monthly for officers and bi-weekly for enlisted personnel.
Minister for Defence Simon Coveney introduced a special loyalty bonus in January to provide more certainty going forward about the number of personnel who would be available to crew sea patrols. Just 81 have signed up for the Sea Service Commitment Scheme (SSCS), which is barely enough to crew two ships.
That’s been the figure for several months and RACO members don’t see it increasing any time soon as 60% of personnel are ineligible to sign up for it as they’ve less than three years’ service. The SSCS pays personnel €10,000 (taxable) in four tranches over a two-year period to be on sea patrols.
RACO says it’s aware of just one officer getting paid one of those tranches so far, months after they should have received it. PDForra, the association which represents enlisted personnel, confirmed that a number of its members are also still waiting to be paid.
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