Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not surprised that Deputy Chambers is speaking about public sector pay. I would love to open the chequebook, but I am responsible. Those of us on this side of the House are taking a responsible approach to the country's economic future. When the Deputy's party and my party reached agreement on a programme for Government and a relationship for Government, the progress of the public pay talks was one of the issues we discussed. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil both bought into that. As I made clear at the PDFORRA conference, we have to be responsible in this regard. I am happy that a young recruit who comes into the Defence Forces now gets €27,000 after six months of training, compared to €22,000 previously. This represents an increase of €5,000. Defence Forces personnel can get further increases if they sign up to the extended Lansdowne Road agreement. I decided to address a number of issues at the PDFORRA conference. This was very much welcomed by the members of PDFORRA. For example, I announced a review of the entire conciliation and arbitration system. I will appoint an independent chairperson to review it. As I said in my reply, I have almost signed off on the terms of reference. I will give them to PDFORRA and the Defence Forces to be finalised. The contracts that were initiated by Fianna Fáil-led Governments in 1994 and 2006 are also to be reviewed.

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