Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent)
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I will be quick because I am conscious of the clock. I will make three quick points. First, I am very heartened by what the Secretary General has said in relation to the patrol duty allowance. If there is to be a resolution in the next number of weeks, that would be a major step forward. The entire committee visited a naval base approximately 18 months ago and the one message we consistently received was that fixing the patrol duty allowance will fix the Naval Service. The caveat is that the allowance must be set at the appropriate rate. Currently, members get €60 per day before tax for going to sea for 24 hours. After tax, it works out at just a little more than €1 per hour.

A live, evolving operation is taking place at the moment. It is a kinetic operation, and we can see from media reports that shots have been fired. There are gardaí on the exact same naval ship - fair play to them - who are getting multiples of the offshore allowance that our military sailors are getting. If we set the patrol duty allowance at the appropriate rate, we will fix the Naval Service and regenerate it over time. Coincidently, I will be meeting the Ministers, Deputies Michael McGrath and Donohoe, tomorrow and I will give them that message as well. As I said, unfortunately, if we fix the wrong rate for the patrol duty allowance, it will make matters worse. We have to get it right. If we get it right, over time, the Naval Service will regenerate. I have absolutely no doubt about that.

The second point relates to military housing. I very much welcome the Tánaiste’s comments in recent months in which he pretty much overturned the defence policy of the last couple of decades. There are a number of derelict and unoccupied military houses around the State. The number is approximately 75, to give a ballpark figure. My question is to both the Chief of Staff and the Secretary General. When is it envisaged that these houses will be renovated?

Is there any planned date for when these houses will be re-occupied? When can we expect the first military married quarters, as they were called, to be re-occupied? Is there a timeline for that?

Finally, this is more of an open question. We know there are some issues with long-service increments. We speak consistently about recruitment and retention. It is my own view that we should be speaking about retention and recruitment because retention is more important than recruitment. There are outstanding issues in relation to long-service increments and some technical pay grades. Our troops in the Defence Forces are the only workers I know of in the country who do not have access to the Labour Court. That was a similar situation to members of the Garda approximately seven or eight years ago. However, the Cabinet of the day referred a play claim to the Labour Court for the adjudication of the Labour Court. Obviously, the Labour Court found in the favour of the gardaí and I have no doubt but that if a case was put to the Labour Court from the point of view of the Defence Forces, the Labour Court would be horrified by the rates of pay. I think it is a potential solution and I would be grateful for the thoughts of the Chief of Staff and the Secretary General on that. Those are my three questions. Unfortunately, I will not be able to stay for the answers but I will follow up by reading the transcript afterwards.