The country’s military generals have sought to have their pay linked to top Garda grades as well as to senior roles in the Civil Service – a move which could involve salary rises of close to 30 per cent in some cases.
A submission on behalf of the Defence Forces 12 generals argued that the pay of the Defence Forces chief of staff was now set at 72 per cent of the salary of the Garda Commissioner.
Military chiefs described this position as “inequitable” and said it needed to be revisited through a detailed job evaluation process. They also suggested that lower pay for generals had “devalued” the Defence Forces in the eyes of the public.
The submission by Defence Forces generals and an accompanying letter signed by chief of staff Lieut Gen Sean Clancy was sent in the summer of 2022 to an independent review panel which was looking at top-level remuneration structures in the public service.
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The Government earlier this month announced the establishment of a new Senior Posts Remuneration Committee to decide on pay levels in future for the highest grades of personnel in the State sector on foot of the report of the independent panel.
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has published the submissions made to the independent review panel.
In their submission, the generals highlighted that national defence policy had evolved significantly in response to global security and defence developments. They said there had been a “transformation in the nature of duties and responsibilities” that were placed on officers of general rank.
The generals also highlight the Government’s commitment to invest heavily in the armed forces and to reform its structures following on from the recommendations of the Commission on Defence in early 2022. This will see defence spending rise by 50 per cent by 2028.
In particular, the submission calls for the restoration of pay parity between the Defence Forces chief of staff and the Garda Commissioner which was established in 1979 but broken on foot of a public service remuneration review in 2000.
“It has been argued that this loss of pay parity has diminished and devalued the Defence Forces in the eyes of the public and the members that serve”, the submission says.
It also maintained that it was of increasing concern to the Defence Forces that not only had the pay parity issue not been addressed in later reviews but “worryingly” the pay gap had widened over time.
The 30-page submission does not include mention of the significant decline in Defence Forces manpower and operational capacity in recent years. The military is currently about 2,000 personnel below strength. Nor does it mention the Women of Honour allegations of widespread abuse and discrimination which have rocked the organisation.
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It said that, as of early 2022, the Defence Forces chief of staff was paid €194,029 per year, the grade of major general below this level received €149,551 and a brigadier general in the Army/commodore in the Naval Service had a salary of €135,955.
It said the Garda Commissioner was paid €269,068; the Garda deputy commissioner €172,955; and an assistant commissioner €152,680.
Salaries in all these cases will have increased in the intervening period under general public service pay rounds. In the case of the Garda Commissioner, the pay was increased by 40 per cent in 2018 to attract suitable candidates before former Police Service of Northern Ireland officer Drew Harris was appointed to the role.
The generals said they accepted that the Garda Commissioner was the “accounting officer” for the force – with responsibility for how money was spent – and that this was a factor considered in the relativity in pay. In the defence sector, the accounting officer is the top civil servant in the department.
However, the generals argued “a significant level of delegated responsibility and control passes to the chief of staff and his deputies”.
The military chiefs said that while An Garda Siochana was a larger organisation when measured purely in terms of budget and personnel, “it is submitted that there is a very closely corresponding, if not greater, levels of leadership know-how and complexity of problem-solving required for decision-making and military service in the Defence Forces”.
They said the historic decision to break parity between the heads of the Defence Forces and An Garda Siochana “does not reflect the true levels of complexity, accountability and decision-making responsibilities placed on the office of the chief of staff”.
The Defence Forces did not respond to a request for comment.
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