David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is an important issue that was raised with me. The Defence Forces are not subject to the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997. Similar Acts are in place in other countries to which the relevant defence forces are subject so we are unique in this respect. Because there is no possibility for class action in this State, individual cases are being taken by the trade union. It seems the WRC is siding with the workers in each and every case. Rather than, again, dragging more and more workers through the WRC with a cost to the State, it would make more sense to deal with the substantive issue. It seems that from the WRC perspective, the EU has a competency in this area that supersedes national law. This is one of the reasons the WRC is making the judgments it is making. Senator Craughwell mentions the European directive in his correspondence. We need to go back to the Department with that substantial point, which is that if it is losing all these individual cases and is faced with more, why does it not deal with the substantial problem here?