Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Remuneration for the Permanent Defence Force in 2012 amounted to €459.76 million. This consisted of €424.76 million on pay and €35 million on allowances. An additional €3.5 million in remuneration for the Reserve Defence Force was also expended in 2012.

As the Deputy is aware, talks on an extension to the Public Service Agreement 2010–2014 began last month with a view to achieving savings in the order of €1 billion from the public service pay and pensions bill in the period to the end of 2015 to underpin the necessary fiscal consolidation. During these talks the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, set out a requirement of savings from each sector in the period to the end of 2015 with savings of €35 million being sought from the defence sector. This equates to 3.5% which is the defence sector’s proportion of the total public service pay bill for 2013.

The Government is committed to seeking agreement with staff representatives on the measures to be introduced to achieve the necessary savings in the public service pay and pensions bill. Discussions have commenced, facilitated by the Labour Relations Commission and led by officials of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, between public service management and staff representatives on a new agreement on measures to be introduced to achieve the necessary savings in the public service pay and pensions bill. In parallel with central discussions to identify those savings which would apply across all sectors, defence sector management and the Defence Forces representative associations continue to discuss how additional measures could help to deliver savings and productivity gains to contribute to the defence sector’s proportion of savings to the €1 billion target.

As these discussions are still ongoing, I am sure the Deputy will appreciate that the specifics are confidential to the parties involved and it would be inappropriate for me to comment further on the matter.

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