Dr. Mark Mellett:

We have had a working group on the working time directive for some time now. I see three strands to that. First, it is being true to the legislative requirements. The legislation has not been transposed into Irish legislation yet, but the Department is working on bringing to a point of truth the necessary derogations for the Defence Forces so that we can continue to deliver our outputs while being true to the spirit of the legislation and, at the same time, being fair to the individual members of the Defence Forces and ensuring the organisation can continue to function and meet the requirements of Government and citizens.

We are not an ordinary organisation so there are going to be aspects whereby a derogation there will be required. That is a policy matter that the Department of Defence is addressing. We have one working group in terms of identifying what the implications are and, I can assure the committee, we will be fair to the individuals within the Defence Forces. I want to expedite the institutionalising of the working time directive as soon as possible.