Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Up to €50 million extra is being invested in our Defence Forces this year. It is going into new vessels, new aircraft, new equipment, better and improved barracks, as well as improved pay and pensions for members and retired members of the Defence Forces.

The Defence Forces are covered by the public sector pay agreement. We have a pay agreement across the entire public service which provides for full restoration of pay for almost all public servants, including soldiers and Air Corps and Naval Service personnel by October next year. That is happening in phases and is already well under way.

Separate from that, the Public Service Pay Commission has been asked by the Government to consider issues which are unique to the Defence Forces. It has done that work and received submissions from the Departments of Defence, Public Expenditure and Reform, as well as the Chief of Staff, senior personnel in the Army and the representative groups like PDFORRA and RACO. There was a suggestion that this report was to be published yesterday and it had something to do with elections. That is not correct. The report was only received recently and has not yet been shared with the Cabinet. It will be in the next couple of weeks and will be responded to.

We are serious about responding to the retention difficulties we have in the Defence Forces. At the same time, however, we have to bear in mind that anything which happens with public sector pay has a knock-on effect. Deputy Micheál Martin’s spokesperson, Deputy Michael McGrath, asked me questions last week about where I was going to find extra money for broadband and the national children’s hospital. That was a fair question. It must be borne in mind that a 2% increase in public sector pay costs about €400 million a year alone. That is much more than the extra money we need to find for broadband or the national children’s hospital. It is not once-off. It is recurring. I have to bear that in mind.

See this speech in context