Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Chambers asked about divergence between senior military management of the Defence Forces and the Department. There has been no divergence whatsoever. Both parties signed off on the submission to the Public Service Pay Commission. I read the document submitted by the strategic planning branch earlier this year. The pay commission sought data, statistics and trends on recruitment and retention among other areas in the Defence Forces. A very detailed submission, running to almost 150 pages, was signed off by military management and the Department.

As I said earlier to Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan, there is ongoing interaction between the independent pay commission and the Defence Forces on the submission. What the commission sought in terms of additional correspondence was data on statistics and trends. I commend my officials on the huge amount of work they have done in collating this data which dates back over a number of years. Military management and the Department signed off on this joint submission. If either party had been dissatisfied with it, they would not have signed it. Both parties signed the submission and it was sent to the commission.