Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

That is absolutely correct. This has never been brought directly to my attention. I would remember if it had been. I have no evidence to sustain this allegation. The only way one could possibly test it, as it were, would be to go through the list of people against whom disciplinary action was taken and see whether an undue proportion of them are actively involved with PDFORRA.

As far as I know, there are many people in the Army who want to be involved in the Army trade union, PDFORRA. There is no shortage of people willing to join it or become actively involved in it. There is robust competition for places every year when the AGM comes around. I have no evidence they are being singled out in any way.

We have now allocated approximately 235 people within the Army to act as direct contact persons, DCPs, to whom people can go if they have a complaint. That is another form of representation. We set out to have that many DCPs. The Army high command informed me there was no difficulty in recruiting personnel who were able, willing and ready to serve in that capacity.

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