Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the Minister's reply. He is correct that the Doyle report made a number of recommendations, many of which have been acted upon. Does he consider it strange then that the president of PDFORRA said at its conference last week that certain barrack commanders punish, harass and charge PDFORRA representatives and deny them access to courses and overseas duty in order to force them out of the association? The president of the association made a very specific charge. Is the Minister concerned about it and how does he propose to find out if there is a basis for the charge and if there is ongoing discrimination, punishment or harassment of PDFORRA representatives as happened in the past? It happened when PDFORRA was first set up and continued for a while. I, like everyone else, hoped that the advent of the Doyle report would have stopped some of the harassment and victimisation of PDFORRA representatives. Hopefully, the Minister will take some action on foot of the comments of the president of PDFORRA, Willie Webb.

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