A former Irish soldier based in Cavan believes the drop in numbers in the Defence Forces is the fault of Government.
Yesterday marked 50 years since former Taoiseach Jack Lynch formally asked for a UN peacekeeping force to be deployed to Northern Ireland, and for Irish Troops to set up field hospitals on the border.
John Costin was an army reservist living in London who answered the call and was deployed to Cavan to run Citizen Control Points. The Waterford native settled in Cootehill after meeting his wife and says the Cavan people were always welcoming to the soldiers stationed there. Speaking on the Joe Finnegan Show, he also says the current situation in the Defence Forces is sad and Government must address it.
"It's a great pity. Part of that is when we were on border duty, we got a special allowance. We got allowances for anything that we wanted. If we wanted it we got it. Those days are over. They stopped the allowance, and it was a big allowance. The fact remains that those men are married and you can't run a family with such a big drop. Nobody seems to care. I blame the Government for it, that's the God's honest truth".
