Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Does the Minister appreciate that a head of steam is building up in the ranks of the armed forces and their families over a litany of grievances that I have raised with him both in oral and written questions during the past few months? It is not just a question of grievances, of which there are many, on the issues of pay, pension rights, the theft by this State of annual leave entitlement and health and safety issues, the likes of which we saw in the Air Corps paint shop. It also is about the severe curbs that are being placed on members of the armed forces and their organisation, PDFORRA, in representing its members in the manner of a real trade union. The Garda Representative Association, GRA, and the AGSI were successful in taking a case to the European Committee of Social Rights in the teeth of opposition from the Minister of State's colleagues in the Department of Justice and Equality. That his Department is contesting the case being taken by EUROMIL forcing the armed forces to go through all the same hoops as the Garda organisations did, stringing the process out by years, is shameful. It will not be accepted. Does the Minister accept that a heap of steam is building up on these issues and that the current position is untenable?

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