Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his question, which is very topical as the Cabinet is currently meeting to address this issue. The report that was prepared by the independent Public Service Pay Commission is either being discussed or has been approved by Cabinet at this stage and will be published later by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. The report of the independent commission is the outcome of the Government's recognition of the challenges surrounding recruitment and pay issues in the Defence Forces. It is not an abstract thing. It was prioritised over other groups in the Public Sector Pay Commission in the first instance because of how seriously the Government takes its commitment to the people who serve us on a daily basis. The recommendations will be published later on. I hope they will go a long way to addressing some of the concerns the Deputy has raised, those raised by Mr. Berry this morning and other representations that have been made. Families have come to each of us in recent months expressing their concerns and difficulties.

I am not at liberty to go through the details of the report although I am aware that everybody probably knows most of them already.

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