Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is perhaps the first opportunity for the Minister to address in the House the comments made by Mr. O'Driscoll before the Oireachtas committee. One of the main reasons I persuaded many people within my party to vote for the programme for Government was that it was clear the commission would deal with the issue of pay and conditions. It appears, however, that Mr. O'Driscoll's comments were at variance with that. Will the Minister directly address that?

While there is a range of issues in the area of the Defence Forces, pay and conditions is the key one for some members. It is the issue on which they are waiting for us to move. Will the Minister address the issue of a permanent pay commission and state whether a pay recommendation will be made in advance of that as part of the commission? Will a separate pay commission be established or should we not expect a pay award to be made until after the commission has published its report?

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