Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

On 29 November 2005, the Minister for Defence addressed the biennial delegate conference of the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers, RACO, in Cavan. The Minister sought to make his address relevant, informative and positive and discussed topics of interest to military delegates, their colleagues and to the wider community. Those topics included the representative process, partnership, Defence Forces arbitration board, defence spending, the White Paper on defence, EU battle groups, volunteer corps unit, overseas numbers, bullying and harassment, future pay policy, equal opportunity and the review of measures with a view to maximising the number of women applicants into the Defence Forces. The Minister is satisfied that his speech was well received by the assembled delegates and is grateful to the Deputies for their interest in his address which can be accessed from the Department's website, www.defence.ie.

Among the issues raised by RACO were the White Paper on Defence, partnership, modernisation agenda, promotion system, child care, public service pay system, benchmarking, arbitration, medical review, retirement age, disaster relief and military representation in the Portuguese Defence Forces. It is clear that the Minister covered a very wide and comprehensive agenda in his address to RACO.

See this speech in context