The shortage of air traffic controllers in the Air Corps, which threatens to curtail military operations, is the most extreme manifestation yet of the recruitment problems facing the Defence Forces.
The move to five-day-a-week, day-time-only flying operations at Casement Aerodrome is of a piece with Naval Service vessels being tied up because of crew shortages and in some cases going on patrol without functioning main weapons. It also mirrors the difficulties experienced by the Army in meeting EU and UN commitments.
Paradoxically, the State’s need for a functioning Defence Force – and in particular an Air Corps and Naval Service – has probably not been greater since a state of emergency was declared during the second World War. Incursions into Irish air space and territorial waters are on the increase as east-west tensions escalate. The communication cables that criss-cross the Irish sea bed are seen to be both particularly vulnerable and uniquely important.
A number of specific issues lie behind the shortage of air traffic controllers, as is the case with shortages of similarly key personnel in the Naval Service and Army. For air traffic controllers, it is the allure of work in the private sector for better pay and conditions. Controllers leaving for the public sector is not a new phenomenon but to date the rate of attrition has been sustainable.
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This is no longer the case and the implications of reduced flying operations for Garda and air ambulance operations as well as the security of the State mandate action. There are a number of stop gap measures that can be put in place, such as retention payments which have been sought previously by the Defence Forces. But ultimately the issue of staff retention can only be addressed by making careers in the Defence Forces an attractive option. This is a about more than pay and conditions. It also includes culture and values.
Until these deficits are addressed the Minister for Defence’s vision of an expanded Air Corps which could ultimately operate modern fighter jets is the stuff of fantasy.
