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

Okay. We would not want a double standard within the Defence Forces in this regard. I note the assurance that the Minister of State has given the House. It is an important point.

A number of Deputies have stated that there is a bigger picture. I agree with that point. Members of the Defence Forces are denied trade union rights.

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Not alone do they not have the right to strike, but they do not have the right for their representative organisation to bring cases to the Workplace Relations Commission and they do not individually have the right to bring grievances before the likes of a rights commissioner. In fact, as I have pointed out in the House before, they do not have the right to bring a grievance to a Deputy's clinic. It is inevitable that when workers do not have the right to join a trade union they will be more exploited than workers who have that right. The two things cannot be separated. We see it in the Defence Forces in terms of the low pay and the huge amount of annual leave which is built up, which is not carried over and for which people are not compensated. We see it in Baldonnel with regard to health and safety. We are seeing it here with regard to health and safety around the anti-malarial drug, Lariam.

I congratulate Deputy Ó Snodaigh and his party on bringing this motion before the House. We will be giving the motion our full support. I recently noted a report in The Sunday Business Post, which quoted sources, which I believe may have been former senior personnel in the military, who expressed concern about the fact that issues were being brought to the floor of the Dáil by Deputy Ó Snodaigh, by myself, by members of the Sinn Féin Party and by members of Solidarity. They were concerned that that was the case. I make the point to those sources that we are bringing up issues that, in the past, have been brought to the doors of the Minister's party and the Fianna Fáil Party. Those parties have not been as attentive to those issues as they could have, or should have, been. In fact, in some cases, a blind eye and a deaf ear has been turned. Is it any wonder that members of the Defence Forces and their families might come to the likes of Sinn Féin and Solidarity? Is it any wonder that they might knock on our doors and ask that we help provide a voice for them and bring their issues to the floor of the House? They will continue to do so, and even more so in the future, unless the likes of the Minister, his party and the Fianna Fáil Party start to listen to the genuine grievances and concerns of those members. One thing I am certain of, from discussing this with members of the Defence Forces and their families over the last while, is that the grievances are very significant and very widespread. People have the bit between their teeth now. I do not believe they will let it go. The campaigns will continue, and we will continue to bring up the issues until such time as the Minister deals with them.

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