8th Meeting of the Commission on the Defence Forces Tuesday, 13th July 2021 National Emergency Coordination Centre (Agriculture House, Dublin 2) and by Video Conference Minutes In attendance Commission Members o Mr. Aidan O’Driscoll (Chair) o Ms. Jane Williams o Professor Maura Conway o Ms. Marie Cross o Ms. Caitríona Heinl o Mr. John Minihan o Lt Gen. (Retd) Conor O’Boyle o Lt Gen. (Retd) Esa Pulkkinen o Ms. Geraldine Tallon o Dr. Gerry Waldron o Mr. Shay Cody o Ms. Stephanie O’Donnell Secretariat o Mr. Cathal Duffy, Head of Secretariat o Ms. Gráinne Guinan o Lt Cdr. Paul Hegarty o Mr. Jerry Higgins o SQMS Kern O’Neill o Ms. Clodagh Callanan Apologies o Adm. (Retd) Haakon Bruun-Hanssen o Mr. Dan Harvey 1 1. Introduction The Chair, Mr. Aidan O’Driscoll began by welcoming members to the eighth plenary meeting of the Commission and outlined the agenda for the meeting. 2. Minutes of Previous Meeting The draft minutes of the seventh plenary meeting were agreed. 3. Review of Recent Visits to Military Installations Commission members reviewed the visits to military installations which had taken place since the previous plenary meeting, where again they had further opportunity to engage and interact with personnel of all ranks and experience, including members of the Army Reserve. The installations visited since the last meeting were Custume Barracks, Athlone; Finner Camp, Donegal; Aiken Barracks, Dundalk and Sarsfield Barracks, Limerick. The Commission noted a continued pattern of mainly HR related and local issues being raised by personnel across all locations. 4. Progress Update – Staffing Sub-Group The Staffing Sub-group provided a progress update on their work and delivered presentations on a wide range of issues including Pay Structures, Morale, Modernisation, Culture, Healthcare, Diversity, Working Hours and Training. There was a broad ranging discussion around all the issues presented, and initial agreement on draft recommendations in certain areas. Members noted many of the positive aspects of the culture of the Defence Forces and the importance of building on these. A process for dealing with some of the more localised and less strategic issues that have emerged during visits to meet serving and recently retired personnel was also discussed. 5. Progress Update – Capabilities Sub-Group The Capabilities Sub-group provided a progress update on its work and delivered a presentation on capabilities in the maritime domain, including current Naval Service capabilities and gaps, fleet outputs, future capability requirements and international comparators. The interaction between maritime capabilities, staffing and structures was also considered. 6. Progress Update – Structures Sub-Group The Structures Sub-group provided a progress update on their work, and noted a paper received from the Defence Forces on Army structures. There was a broad ranging discussion around Army brigade structures and headquarters, including international comparisons, while structures for enhanced jointness, and command and control were also considered. It 2 was agreed that there was a need for bilateral meetings to address certain issues that cut across the sub-groups with arrangements to be made through the Secretariat. 7. Update on Public Consultation The Chair noted the submission recently received from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Draft report on submissions received The Secretariat presented a draft report on submissions received in response to the Commission’s public consultation. The report includes an outline of the consultation process, a breakdown of submission sources and an initial analysis of submissions received, with a graphical overview of themes emerging under the headings of capabilities, structures and staffing. It is intended to publish the report on the Commission’s website in tandem with the second tranche of submissions which are presently being prepared for publication. The high quality of the submissions received was noted by the Chair and other members. NVivo Software The Secretariat also provided an update on the use of the NVivo software which is being used to analyse and interrogate the submissions received. Details of the range of analysis reports generated to date at the request of Commission members to inform their deliberations were also provided. 8. Future Work The Chair referred to and outlined arrangements for an upcoming meeting with the Chief of Staff, the Garda Commissioner and the Secretaries General of the departments of Defence and Justice. The Chair proposed extending the plenary meetings scheduled for September and October over a number of days, and requested that Commission members contact the Secretariat to indicate their availability to attend. The Secretariat provided an update on arrangements for a second academic-led webinar to be hosted by the Commission in conjunction with the IIEA. 9. AOB It was noted that visits to two further military installations (Dún Uí Mhaoilíosa, Galway and James Stephens Barracks, Kilkenny) would be taking place later in the week. 3 .