John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister mentioned the Haddington Road agreement a number of times and also referred to the special training allowance. He said that was bought out. RACO and other representative bodies would contend that this is not the case. That is something that must be addressed because it is a major concern. These allowances were cut and unlike in other public sector areas where some allowances have been reinstated, they have not been restored for the Defence Forces. The specialised technician pay is another allowance that needs to be addressed and reinstated. If we are serious about making the Defence Forces a career path for members of the public to join, we must address all these issues.

Key to that is the right to affiliate with ICTU, and I welcome the Minister's announcement that there will be a decision next week. I hope it will be the right decision because that will be key to allowing the representative bodies to articulate in the room where these decisions are made and to ensuring their voices are heard and acted on.

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