Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is a safety issue and a workplace relations issue. That is why we will be implementing the working time directive. We will provide in Irish law that the exclusion from the legislation of the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána is addressed. We are committed to doing that. I am happy to speak to RACO and-or PDFORRA in regard to that issue. I am meeting them in a few weeks time and we will be discussing a whole range of issues. I am happy to update them on progress in this space as well. It is important to recognise that the working time directive already provides a significant level of guidance in terms of how we approach HR issues within the Defence Forces, but that is not enough. We need to get the legal protections in place to do that and to agree what the exemptions are because a career in the Defence Forces and working in the Defence Forces is different from other workplace environments. Everybody accepts that. That work is well advanced.

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