Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In the light of the fact that the Minister of State, Deputy Paul Kehoe, is sitting beside the Tánaiste, I want to return to the issue of legislation promised in the Department of Defence included in the B and C lists. Two Defence (Amendment) Bills are listed at Nos. 36 and 65. I refer to that legislation in the light of the fact that in the past two days reports from the PDFORRA national convention have been making national headlines. Yesterday we were told that 20% of members of the Defence Forces were in need of family income supplement. We were told also that five soldiers were sleeping in their cars because they had been impoverished as a result of the changes made by the former Minister for Defence, Deputy Alan Shatter. This morning we are told that Defence Forces' members had to borrow uniforms from colleagues to participate-----

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