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Debate on the Address

My Lords, compared with the majority of our European neighbours and many overseas contemporaries, the role of our Armed Forces in the life of this nation has been more than prominent. The retreat from Empire and colonial entanglements may seem a lifetime away, but in the expanse of our kingdom’s history they are relatively recent events, necessitating military commitments uncommon to nations of a similar size. Britain’s participation in the Cold War kept our Armed Forces to the fore through the 1970s and 1980s, and in the 1990s our foreign policy began to fashion a new role for the military as peacekeepers in conflicts such as Kosovo and the Balkans, building on the skills and expertise which our soldiers honed combating terrorism on the streets of my native Northern Ireland. I do not decry the role of the military in our national life. Rather, our Armed Forces have been and continue to be a source of national pride, a physical manifestation of values which often reflect the best of what it is to be British in the modern world. In a world where respect, discipline and sacrifice are oft neglected, our Armed Forces remind us, and society in general, of the enduring importance of character and duty. We owe much to and indeed expect much from the men and women who voluntarily endanger life and limb for the nation’s benefit. Much has been said today about how the Government fail to reciprocate the faith which servicemen place in them, sentiments with which I wholeheartedly agree. It is to our eternal shame that we fail properly to equip, train and support our Armed Forces. Further, as my noble and gallant friend Lord Craig of Radley, the noble Lord, Lord Addington, and others have elucidated, for the Government to break the military covenant reflects poorly on our Ministers. It is a problem as old as the military itself. Every age has its cause célèbre. The issues of the day may change, but the underlying tensions remain. For example, in his excellent book, Redcoat, Professor Richard Holmes paints a bleak picture of the soldier’s lot in the years after the Crimean War. Conditions, particularly in barracks, were shockingly poor. Soldiers, mostly sleeping on the floor, were crammed into spaces half the size of those enjoyed by convicts of the time. While we have mostly left behind such gross physical squalor, there have been more than a few disturbing instances of troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan being denied the means by which to fulfil their duties effectively. If that was not sufficient dereliction of duty on the Government’s behalf, it has also emerged that not only do troops feel obliged to take out private insurance to top up the meagre compensation offered by the Ministry of Defence in the event of injury or death—or even to cover the loss of kit, an affront in itself—but those insurance premiums are now expected to increase by some 160 per cent. Such fast and loose treatment of those who put themselves forward in the line of fire for our country should burn the conscience of Ministers. In an era when the Armed Forces face intense competition in recruitment, it is peculiar indeed that the Government should lose sight of the importance of ensuring that the armed services are seen to offer good conditions and terms in order to attract potential recruits. However, lest I be accused of having nothing positive to contribute, I would like to suggest a partial solution to today’s recruitment difficulties. Despite their problems, the Armed Forces still offer tremendous career opportunities to both United Kingdom and Commonwealth citizens. Pre-1969 and the outbreak of the Troubles in Ulster, the armed services of Britain were also a highly popular career choice for thousands of citizens from the Republic of Ireland. That should come as no surprise as historically the Irish have made a disproportionately large contribution to the United Kingdom’s military, boasting a lineage that stretches back to the 17th century. The Irish formed the backbone of Wellington’s army with regiments such as the Connaught Rangers and the 87th Irish Fusiliers, earning the admiration of all who fought with them. In 1830, 42.2 per cent of the British Army was Irish, and as late as 1870 the proportion was still high, at 28 per cent. Even during World War II the numbers serving from the Irish Republic stood at over 160,000. Apart from sheer quantity, Ireland also produced quality. Macaulay called Ireland, "““an inexhaustible nursery of the finest soldiers””." These, of course, included one Dublin-born Arthur Wellesley. With stability returning to Northern Ireland, I can see no reason why our Armed Forces should not proactively reactivate that rich vein of recruitment from the Irish Republic. Not only would this help to address manpower issues, it would also help to strengthen personal ties between the United Kingdom and Ireland and set the tone for further improvements in relations between our two countries. At a time when our military resources are stretched and when uncertainty abounds in various theatres, it is beholden upon the Government to ensure that the Armed Forces have the manpower to undertake all that they lay at their door. This requires practical measures to underpin the service personnel’s confidence that the nation will protect their interests and, I suggest, a more creative approach to recruitment which would tap into the ambitions of those Irish men and women from the whole of the island who wish to follow a military career with a global touch.