Mr. Se?n Clancy:

At the top of Senator Craughwell's questions, he asked about the working time directive and whether progress had stalled. The focus of all of these discussions from a military management point of view is first and foremost on the protection of the statutory rights of all of our personnel, which is very important, while at the same time being very conscious of operational capabilities and the impacts any changes would have. As the Secretary General mentioned earlier, we are satisfied that nearly 80% of our day-to-day routine operations meet the requirements of the working time directive. We are looking at derogations in respect of those that are outside of it. It is in that context that the talks are taking place, with these involving a three-strand approach to ensure that proper protections are put in place to ensure those statutory rights are upheld and, if they are not, that alternatives are put in place to maintain balance. We are very conscious of that. I will categorically say that they have not stalled. All of these issues involve complex discussions. This is a complex matter. As I said, we very much welcome the introduction of the working time directive. It is on that basis and on those principles that negotiations proceed and that we have formulated our position in this regard.

We do have a time recording system in the Defence Forces. People sometimes ask how we calculate hours. We have a personnel management system that records where everybody is at any given time of day. I have a highly accurate picture of the entirety of the force at any particular time through that system. As the Senator will be aware, the working time directive demands that hours are recorded in a very precise manner. We have already undertaken a pilot programme in that regard within the Defence Forces. Part of the introduction of the working time directive, which we will achieve in the fullness of time, will involve ensuring we meet the requirements of the directive. We have enhanced our personnel management system to grow that. A significant investment in software will be required to ensure we can achieve that. The processes as regards how we will go about operationalising that have to be worked through. That will take a considerable amount of time, as the Senator can appreciate. I am confident that we will do that. Does the Secretary General want to say anything else on that?