I raise again the crisis within our Defence Forces. The low level of morale within the rank and file, the shabby manner in which they are treated, the gaps in middle management, and the failure to retain and nurture specialist expertise within the forces all point to a failed policy of the Government and a Minister of State who, with the Government, is completely out of touch with the reality on the ground. In the Army, the Air Corps and the Naval Service, a consistent message emerges. Members are exiting the Defence Forces at all ranks at a rate of between 40 and 50 per month. We learned last October that ships could not set sail because there were not enough crew members to manage them. The Air Corps operates at 70% capacity. On the rank and file within the Army, Sarah Walsh of the Wives & Partners of the Defence Forces put it eloquently when she said:

Our families live in poverty. We suffer from food, income, fuel, and child poverty. Many of us can only dream of owning our home, and some this month are facing uncertainty about their homes, while others are facing homelessness. I personally know these people.

The current strength is approximately 8,800, which does not take into account 670 members overseas or 450 in full-time training. There has been a blind reliance by the Government on recruitment over retention and on recruiting its way out of the crisis. Recruitment on its own, however, has had no impact on the strength of the Defence Forces in recent years, and the cost benefit of retention over recruitment is indisputable. There has been a removal of initiatives to enhance retention, such as the fixed-period promotion for specialist service officers, which illustrates the lack of creative thinking to support our Defence Forces. It restricted members' career progress and left them with nowhere to go, resulting in people buying themselves out of the Defence Forces and leaving in unacceptable numbers. We have lost much specialist expertise from our Defence Forces. The Chief of Staff, Vice Admiral Mellett, has stated:

You are always going to have a churn and a churn is healthy, but I would rather it be down about 5 per cent rather than the 8.1 per cent it is at present. It is that extra per cent that is crippling us at present.

The ongoing exit from the ranks of the Defence Forces is just too great and it speaks to a failed policy. Does the Taoiseach accept that there is a crisis within our Defence Forces? Does he further accept, as has been suggested, that the Government, through the Department of Defence, is undermining the case being made by our Defence Forces through the initiatives of their leadership to turn the situation around? They meet obstacles in every direction.

Before I answer the Deputy's question, I beg the indulgence of the House to take this opportunity to extend my condolences to the family of Laura Brennan, whose service of remembrance is taking place in Ennis today. As Deputies will know, she died from cervical cancer but worked closely with the health service to become a powerful advocate for HPV vaccination and, because of her, we were able to increase its uptake again. While she has lost her life, sadly, I believe her actions will save the lives of many people. As Deputies will be aware, she was not connected with the approximately 221 women who were affected by the cervical cancer audit.

I also extend my condolences to the family of the former Deputy, John Browne, who passed away this morning. People will know him as a colleague in the House and his son who served in the Seanad.

To respond to the Deputy's question, the Government and everyone in the House are proud of the contribution that our Defence Forces make, whether through peacekeeping, as an aid to the civil power, intelligence or other operations. We are investing in our Defence Forces and increasing the budget this year, with more than €50 million being invested in barracks, equipment, pensions and pay. While I acknowledge there is a problem with retention in the Defence Forces, recruitment is going well. There are record numbers in the classes being attested and graduating, although many people are leaving because there are now many opportunities in the private sector, as the Deputy will know is the case in his constituency in County Cork, where engineers are leaving the Naval Service to work in the private sector. The Chief of Staff has stated he would prefer to see a turnover rate of approximately 5%, which would be normal, as opposed to the current rate of approximately 8%, and I concur.

I accept that we need to act but we are taking action. Pay restoration is well under way throughout the public service, including the Defence Forces, and almost everyone earning under €80,000 will have full pay restoration by the end of the year. There will be continuous recruitment rather than recruitment in bullets or phases, as happened in the past. We are allowing for the re-entry of people to the Defence Forces, given that, sometimes after people leave, they want to come back and now we will allow them to do so if they so wish. The fourth and perhaps most significant step is that we have asked the Public Service Pay Commission to examine the issues. After holding hearings and listening to the Defence Forces, the Chief of Staff and the Department, the commission will bring forward proposals which it believes could improve the terms and conditions of the Defence Forces without having an impact across the public sector. I asked the head of the commission, Kevin Duffy, in recent days whether the report could be expedited, and he informed me he believes that the commission can publish its report by the middle of May.

I get a sense of the Government and the Taoiseach being detached from the reality of the crisis on the ground. The Taoiseach said recruitment is going well, but the fact of the matter is that the Government cannot recruit its way out of the crisis. It must address the retention issues. Between 1 January and 31 December 2017, for example, the significant recruitment drive by the Department of Defence and the associated burden on operational units and structures yielded a net increase of three personnel to the Defence Forces. We have been telling the Government about the issue for between two and three years. It is not something that has just arrived today. Morale is low at all levels. A recent Amárach Research survey, commissioned by RACO, found that 79% of post-2013 officers are strongly considering leaving well in advance of their retirement age due to the issue of supplementary pension before qualification for the State contributory pension.

At all levels, from pension to pay to allowances, there are no initiatives to retain people. In fact, it is in the opposite direction. All the inbuilt structures and so on are designed to incentivise people to leave the Army, the Air Corps and the navy. Even the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment recruits people from the Army and pays higher rates than the Army can. The loss of expertise, from bomb disposal to the Naval Service, has been enormous over recent years, but all we have heard in reply is a studied indifference from the Government and a lack of urgency to deal with the crisis. Does the Taoiseach accept that?

Recruitment is going well. The biggest classes ever are coming through and being attested. For the first time, we have people moving from the non-commissioned ranks to become officers. There are promotional opportunities that were not available in the past. There is a particular focus on recruiting more women into the Defence Forces and we are seeing some good results in that regard. However, there is a high turnover rate of approximately 8% a year, whereas 5% would be more normal. We are doing four things to address the matter. They include pay restoration which is happening across the public service, with the next tranche to kick in in the next few weeks. We are moving from periodic to continuous recruitment. We are also moving towards a model of re-entry, whereby people who leave can rejoin. That was not allowed in the past and it is a significant change such that people who have left the Defence Forces to move elsewhere in the public sector or the private sector can come back in, which is very positive. I do not know why we did not do it before. Perhaps most significantly, we have commissioned the Public Service Pay Commission to examine the terms, conditions and allowances of members of the Defence Forces. I spoke to the head of the commission in the last couple of days to ask if the report could be expedited. He told me that it could be and that the commission expected to report by the middle of May.