Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In respect of the person to whom the Deputy is referring, I only have hearsay of this in media reports. It is very easy to say something in the media. To my recollection, and I have looked for this, there has been absolutely no correspondence between this person and my Department. This person would actually have no contact with officials in my Department. He would have been dealing with the Defence Forces rather than officials in my Department. There has been no correspondence whatsoever between this guy and my officials, to my recollection. I have been looking for this and there has been no trace of this person. As I have stated, this person was employed in the Defence Forces during the absolute crash for which the Deputy's party was responsible. He was there when there were massive pay cuts.

Now we are trying to reverse this by giving pay increases to the lower-paid members of the Defence Forces. It is important to note that they will have full pay restoration by 2020.

I have had no contact with the person in question whatsoever. I also do not believe there is any correspondence between the person and my Department.

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