A Government White Paper on the future of the Defence Forces was badly needed and should provide direction, consistency and transparency, the Chief of Staff, Lieut Gen Gerry McMahon, said yesterday.
He said ideally armed forces should be structured, equipped and armed in accordance with a stated defence policy which was co-ordinated with other national policies, most notably a foreign policy.
"This has not been the Irish experience. Defence policy in Ireland, in so far as it exists, has largely dealt with specific situations as they arose, in a pragmatic way. One clear inadequacy identified in the various reviews of the Defence Forces and the Department of Defence has been the lack of clearly stated defence policy objectives. This leads to an ultimate lack of direction from government."
Lieut Gen McMahon was addressing the Policy Institute Seminars, made up of senior civil servants and academics, on the theme "Future Policy Issues in the Defence Forces".
He said he welcomed the Government's plan to produce a White Paper on Defence and hoped it would provide direction, consistency and transparency to the approach to defence in Ireland. "I sincerely hope that the debate which will accompany this White Paper will not descend into fruitless discussion on Ireland's military neutrality, as has happened in the past, but will instead look at Ireland's interests in a rapidly changing home, European and world environment."
Later in his address, he said the closure of some barracks was absolutely crucial to the successful reorganisation of the Defence Forces. Barracks were too thinly spread around the State and too much time and money were being spent on operating these old installations. "I believe that with a little lateral thinking acceptable solutions could be found to this political hot potato."
He went on: "Within the Defence Forces, we need to be able to take greater charge of the organisation and how it goes about its business. Moving out from under the micro-management of the Department of Defence is the only way," he said.
"We are a Defence Forces that urgently seek a coherent defence policy. Within the Defence Forces we are on a journey from the low of 1988 towards a reorganisation which will give this country a Defence Forces worthy of the name. There are quite a number of obstacles to our attainment of this objective. "
Army deafness compensation claims were one of the biggest threats hanging over them. "While I am sceptical of doomsday scenarios, the potential for the final bill being very expensive still remains." He fully supported the Minister for Defence in his effort to get this matter under control.
On the Belfast Agreement, he said while the political situation might be stable, the security picture was unpredictable.