Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As Deputy for Kildare South, I have huge regard for our Defence Forces and the really important role they play in Irish society. I say this not because the Defence Forces training centre is on the Curragh Camp in the heart of my constituency, or because Kildare South has the largest postal vote in the country. It is because many of my friends from school had parents in the Defence Forces and I will not be lectured by anybody on the other side of the House on this issue. I was aware of every member of the local GAA club who was a serving member of the Defence Forces and I remember the huge regard in which they were held. As I grew up, some of my friends went into the Army apprenticeship school and some joined the Air Corps or the navy. Our biggest concerns were that they would be sent abroad on a tour of duty and would miss a championship match. As they got older, got married and had children, I saw the strain on them and their families when they were sent on a tour of duty and I acknowledge the difficulty for wives and partners of serving members in this regard.

I hate the fact that our Defence Forces have low morale at the moment and feel they are not as valued as they should be. I work very hard, with the Minister, Deputy Kehoe, and others in Government to put that right because our Defence Forces matter. This problem manifests itself in recruitment and retention and we are determined to put it right. I will continue to use my position as a Government Deputy in this area. I am well aware of the strain when the forces do not have the full complement of personnel, when training and tours of duty mean the onus falls on all the other members. I am not surprised, however, that we have recruitment and retention issues. The level and quality of training for the Defence Forces mean their members are highly sought after and, at a time of full employment, the private sector is screaming out for the talents and skills they have, in the areas of logistics, discipline etc. We will continue to work to improve conditions to make sure that we can compete with the private sector.

We need to address a number of areas. We need formal affiliation for our personnel and their representatives, such as PDFORRA, with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and I commend the Minister and his officials on their work in this area, much of which has been done behind the scenes. I hope to see the fruits of that in the very near future. A working group was established to make progress on the working time directive and this has happened, without getting big headlines. It is not easy to deal with staffing and HR issues in the Defence Forces because of the unique role they have in our society. I hope the Public Service Pay Commission makes progress in the near future and that we will see movement on the outstanding adjudication awards for the Army ranger wing, allowances for chefs, technicians' pay, account holders' allowances and rations of recruits and apprentices. I understand that PDFORRA has taken an action around the retrospective nature of this but we should see movement on it. I have spoken with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe. Let us get it paid from now. The action can take care of itself but we could start paying it straight away and I would love that to happen.

I am acutely aware of the challenges in the area of public sector pay. We have a broad public sector pay agreement but some people on the other side seem to have forgotten that. In the confidence and supply agreement, Fianna Fáil signed up to the public sector pay agreement. Its finance spokesperson, Deputy Michael McGrath, agrees that it is the right approach but the Members present want to undermine that now. I was part of the negotiations for the confidence and supply agreement and not once was the pay of the Defence Forces raised. One could say that Fianna Fáil is playing politics with this issue.

See this speech in context