By Claire Corrigan
A Mullingar Defence Forces wife was one of several local women among a protest group representing the wives and partners of members of Ireland’s Defence Forces who marched in a protest at the headquarters of the Department of Defence in Co Kildare, claiming some soldiers get less than a living wage.
The Wives and Partners of the Defence Forces (WPDF) marched from St Conleth’s Church in Newbridge to the Department from 2pm earlier this month on Saturday, 13 June.
The group, which was set up in November of last year by three such wives of current Defence Forces members, took to the streets to highlight issues with their spouses’ pay and conditions among other things.
At present, the group claims that many Defence Forces members are effectively working for less than the minimum wage, and have no method of recourse via traditional industrial relations channels in Ireland.
Speaking to Topic, Mullingar woman Breda O’Callaghan said many families are struggling on the current wages, “One in five soldiers are on family income supplement. This is the reality of the situation, which is why we have been forced to take to the streets. Because so many families are struggling, people won’t recommend the army as a career and people won’t join up.
“The only thing we are recruiting for at the moment is the British Army and the only one who has copped on to what is needed to ensure that people join up is the British government. The Irish government have not taken it on at all. As a result, people are not joining the army, so the recruitment drive has failed again and it’s not going to improve unless they deal with the wages and the contracts,” Breda assessed.
Breda said the group are calling for the elimination of so-called post-94 contracts that could see a member since 1994 having to leave the Defence Forces after 21 years, should a certain level of rank or achievement not be attained.
ONLY PORRIDGE
Shelley Cotter, spokeswoman with the WPDF said that stories of familial hardship from members have come to light, including that of Sandra, the wife of a member of the Defence Forces of 14 years standing and mother of three children, a woman who claims she sometimes has to feed her children porridge for dinner because they can afford anything else. “We can’t survive on €527 per week. Once the rent, food, petrol, electricity and gas are paid, there is absolutely nothing left. My husband is a lovely, committed man but a broken man. He had an extra job doing deliveries but because of the uncertainty of his hours in the army, he just couldn’t commit to it and his boss didn’t like the fact that he couldn’t do some nights or weekends due to the unexpected things that soldiers have to do.”
Breda agreed, saying that she believed there were a range of issues that the Government are not tackling, “They have their heads completely in the sand about it. Unfortunately it’s going to continue and the marches are going to continue because we are going to keep marching. People are really struggling and they can’t manage,” she said.
New intake figures obtained by a Sunday newspaper show 480 Irish citizens joined the British Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy between 2011 and 2016.
According to the Ministry of Defence, 60 recruits from Ireland joined the British ranks in 2013/2014 compared with 110 in 2015/2016.
“The soldiers who are here aren’t staying because they can’t afford to stay and the recruits are just burning themselves out. The get a taste of army and they love that. The problem is that when they look at their wages, they just say it isn’t worth it,” Breda agreed.
“The Minister and the Government have to tackle the appalling wages and the contracts which are not fit for purpose. That’s all it’s about. People want to join the army and stay in the army but they just can’t make it work here with them wages,” she concluded.
