Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

The key issue is that the representative bodies agree that the Minister and the Government make the decision about the closure of barracks but there is a commitment in this pay agreement that where closures were to take place, there would be consultation beforehand with the representative groups. In this instance, that did not happen. That is the main point of contention.

Will the Minister clarify if there is a template for the closure of barracks that would ensure that if barracks were to be closed in the future, a certain procedure would be gone through? I am sure the Minister will agree that the representative bodies should have been consulted in line with this pay agreement. That agreement was signed up with Government and the procedures were not followed. This agreement was voted on by their members but some of those members are now asking, when is a deal not a deal? They are confused about what has happened. Will the Minister confirm that it was part of that pay agreement that consultation should have taken place first? Is there a template for barrack closures? Is this a breach of this pay agreement?

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