Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While the Minister of State might remain satisfied with the current arrangement in place, I assure him that the Defence Forces are not. The Minister of State will be aware that until 2016, both the Garda and Defence Forces representative associations have been precluded from trade union status and affiliation to ICTU. Garda and the Defence Forces representative associations were granted access to the national pay talks in what is referred to as a parallel process, with the Departments of Justice and Equality and Defence operating sectoral conciliation and arbitration schemes. It is fair to say that recent changes in this context have meaningfully altered the dynamic structures of the State industrial relations architecture, with access for Garda associations to the Workplace Relations Commission now being sanctioned by Government. However, the Defence Forces associations have not been considered in this context. Queries posed to the Department of Defence on this subject failed to elicit any response to relevant questions as to why Government found it necessary to restructure established industrial relations structures for the Garda and not the Defence Forces.

I put it to Deputy Kehoe that as Minister of State with responsibility for defence, it is his job to advocate for the Defence Forces at the Cabinet table, and I put it to him that he has failed to do so. That he thinks he can maintain the status quofor the Defence Forces while allowing the Garda a separate structure within which to operate is totally ridiculous. It will not be sustainable, and the Defence Forces will not accept it. What is the Minister of State doing to address this imbalance and the Defence Forces' lack of access to the industrial relations mechanisms of the State to which they are entitled?

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