The Morning Lead

A senior civilian and military leaders will appear before the Defence Committee today to explain what they are doing to solve the Irish Air Corps Air Traffic crisis.

CIVILIAN AND MILITARY leaders are set to defend their handling of the Air Traffic Control crisis in the Irish Air Corps at an Oireachtas committee hearing today. 

As The Journal revealed last month, the service has been forced to move to a part-time five-day-week and daylight-only service because it does not have enough air traffic controllers. 

New measures are being assessed which will allow enable the Air Corps to return to a full-time seven day and nighttime service, an Oireachtas committee is to be told today.

As of this morning, the service remains on the restricted hours with aircraft only operating Monday to Friday and during daylight hours. 

Jacqui McCrum, Secretary General of the Department of Defence (DOD) as well as Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces Lieutenant General Rossa Mulcahy and the commanding officer of the Air Corps Brigadier General Rory O’Connor are to appear before the Defence Committee this evening.

An internal 2021 report had recommended introducing a retention payment scheme to retain the high skilled specialists. The report also said that a shortfall in ATC services in the Air Corps would happen periodically as personnel are attracted to high paid civilian jobs. 

Tánaiste Simon Harris, who is Minister for Defence, announced earlier this month that  the Cabinet had agreed to offer a new payment scheme for the controllers to keep them in service in line with the retention proposal outlined in the 2021 report. 

Contacts with the Public Expenditure Department, regarding the recommendation, were initiated in February, The Journal has learned. 

It is understood that a focus for questions during the hearing will be around the delay in implementing the retention scheme.

In her opening remarks Jacqui McCrum will say that the Department did not initiate contacts for the scheme until a business case was received. 

“I would like to highlight for the Committee the targeted work that has been done to address this specific challenge. An Internal Report from December 2021 was a joint effort between the Department and the Defence Forces making 31 recommendations and was produced pre the Commission on Defence Forces report.

“The majority of the recommendations in the Report of the Working Group are internal management matters (primarily relating to HR, Delivery of ATS and Training). Sanction for the introduction of a Service Commitment scheme was actioned by the Department when it received the business case for same from the Defence Forces,” she will say.

DOD Secretary General Jacqui McCrum and former Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces Sean Clancy. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

‘Difficult and fraught’

McCrum will tell the committee that the DOD and the Defence Forces are operating in a very difficult geopolitical security situation. 

“The challenging environment we operate within has become more difficult and fraught and you are all aware of the geo-political paradigm we are now faced with.

“These developments have required a significant policy response and that is what the Department has been and continues to be focused on,” she will add. 

The Secretary General said that the challenges faced by military ATC is exacerbated by an increase in civilian air traffic. 

“On the specific issue of shortages of Air Traffic Control personnel, the Committee may wish to note that the challenges facing the Air Corps in retaining Air Traffic controllers has changed significantly since the 2021 report.

“We have seen an increase in commercial activity in terms of there being other opportunities for air traffic controllers in Ireland. It is a fact that there is a growing shortage of air traffic controllers globally,” she will say. 

McCrum said it is because of this “acute” problem that the Tánaiste has received Government approval to extend the retention scheme to air traffic personnel.

“Taken together, it is understood by the Department that these measures should stabilise the current numbers but will also form the basis for the full recovery and building up of resilience of the service in the coming years.

“Other measures are also actively being looked at with Air Corps colleagues in terms of securing additional resources, including from external service providers, to ensure all avenues are being examined,” she will add. 

An Air Corps aircraft taxis past the air traffic control tower in Casement Aerodrome.

Chief of Staff

Lt Gen Rossa Mulcahy will also reference the 2021 report of the Air Traffic Control Working Group – he said that an increase in pay across the Defence Forces has not solved the retention issue.

He will tell the committee: “However, despite extensive efforts, staffing challenges have persisted as a competitive commercial aviation market has targeted this highly specialised, highly trained stream within the Air Corps.

“For example there is an estimated shortage of 700-1,000 ATS personnel across Europe.

“While I wish to acknowledge the significant uplift in the remuneration package for the Defence Forces in general over the last number of years, a disparity between the pay rates of highly specialised military personnel and their civilian equivalents remains.

“This disparity makes it extremely difficult to retain the services of such personnel, including trained ATS personnel. These are not excuses. This is the reality of the environment the Defence Forces and indeed the wider public sector are operating in.”

Mulcahy will tell the committee to “rest assured” that he and the leadership of the Defence Forces will continue to find solutions to the ATC crisis.  

These solutions include the retention measure known as the Service Commitment Scheme. There is also an agreement to move qualified personnel from the enlisted ranks to become officers and a plan to bring qualified civilian controllers into a military reserve who will fill the gap in ranks when needed. 

The military also plans to introduce a direct entry scheme for qualified civilian controllers to join the Defence Forces.