Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

From day one, members of the Defence Forces have got stuck in to help fight the impacts of this pandemic. They have transported PPE, helped with testing and tracing and much more besides. Like retail workers, cleaners and other essential workers, they have worked throughout the crisis, in many instances putting their health and lives and those of their families at risk in order to keep society running. Despite the remarks of the Minister of State, it is a fact that they receive shockingly low pay for so doing. At the start of 2020, more than 100 Defence Forces personnel were in receipt of the working family payment. They were receiving another payment from the State, such was the low nature of their pay. More than 80% of Defence Forces personnel are paid less than the average national wage. They are low-paid, as are many other workers on the front line. The cheap talk of the Minister of State and the Government about how much they recognise all the work that members of the Defence Forces are doing does not pay rent or put food on the table and so on.

An additional factor has been referenced which differentiates these workers from others. Like certain other workers, their health and safety have been compromised and their need for PPE, sanitiser and proper social distancing has often been forgotten. However, unlike other workers, they do not have the same legal right to join a union or take industrial action to demand, for example, that unsafe working conditions be improved. That is a real slap in the face for these workers and their families and highlights the need to give full trade union rights to Defence Forces personnel. I listened to the earlier reply of the Minister of State in respect of this issue to the effect that this is a question for the next Government. He is probably correct in that regard because it is likely that we will soon have a new Government. Does he personally support the idea that these workers should have full trade union rights as well as decent pay?

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