As a recognised organisation within the Defence Community, ARCO represents retired commissioned officers whose collective service represents a repository of knowledge and experience in leading the Defence Forces through demanding operational environments both at home and overseas, and through dynamic internal reorganisations and reforms. ARCO offers this expertise in support of the Commission’s deliberations.
ARCO welcomes the establishment of the Commission and wishes its members well in their endeavours. The Association notes that in addition to seeking to address the immediate critical and deep-seated concerns facing the Defence Forces, the Commission is tasked with taking a mid to longer term perspective beyond 2030 in its deliberations.
ARCO contends that an effective and efficient model of civil-military interface between the Department of Defence and Defence Forces Headquarters fundamentally underpins the success or otherwise of the implementation of the Commission’s recommendations.
In addition, as advanced in previous submissions regarding the Commission’s Composition and Terms of Reference, ARCO strongly recommends that immediate progress is required on the Government’s High Level Implementation Plan “Strengthening our Defence Forces”, and that the Permanent Pay Review Body should be established without delay.
ARCO’s submission focuses on the longer-term considerations on how Ireland provides for its national and international defence and security obligations. The submission represents a distillation of a significant number of inputs representing the Association’s collective views.
ARCO looks forward to a creative, imaginative, and dynamic outcome from the Commission’s deliberations.
Link to ARCO’s Submission dated 26 February 2021
EXCOM
06 March 2021
