Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Okay, I am paraphrasing, but the Tánaiste is comparing a young soldier earning €38,000 a year with somebody in the public service or some private sector job. When there is a massive snowstorm, however, and everybody is stuck at home, military personnel are not stuck at home. When there is a national disaster, military personnel are not stuck at home. When Covid hit, the military was not sitting at home. The Tánaiste should not, therefore, compare a normal, nine-to-six role with that of a member of the Defence Forces.

We were talking about the working time directive. It is an absolute scandal that after all these years, nobody can tell me how many hours Joe Murphy serving in Collins Barracks worked last week. That is unacceptable. Somebody somewhere is responsible for it and it needs to be sorted out. When representatives of RACO and PDFORRA appear before the committee, I can understand the frustration they feel, because their members are hearing very positive stories from these committee meetings but nothing positive emerges.

I swore I was not going to speak on the IRG report until after the tribunal-----