Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge Deputy Berry’s consistent advocacy on behalf of those who work in our Defence Forces. We need to recruit more personnel to the Army, Naval Service and Air Corps. I am particularly familiar with the challenges in the Naval Service because it is located in my community, I know many of the people who work there very well and I am aware of the challenges that are there. The Commission on the Future of the Defence Forces provides a road map for us to address the issues that have been highlighted. We have made significant decisions as a Government to increase capital investment in the Defence Forces and we are investing in more on-site accommodation around the country, which is particularly important.

We have approved and agreed the high-level action plan that sets out the response to the recommendations of the report of the Commission on the Future of the Defence Forces. Some of the recommendations have already been introduced while others require further analysis. Over the past couple of years, we have made some progress, which the Deputy acknowledged, including increases in the military service allowance, the security duty allowance and the patrol duty allowance while the tech pay review has been sanctioned by my Department. Other initiatives include the removal of marked time for private 3 star rank; sanction granted for full rate military service allowance for private 3 star rank; extension of the pilot service commitment scheme, which is of particular benefit to RACO members; and extension of the sea-going service commitment scheme. I have worked closely with the Minister for Defence, Deputy Coveney, on a number of these issues and very much welcome the affiliation of PDFORRA and RACO to ICTU. I know that has been a bone of contention for quite some time in terms of the conduct of pay talks so they are now very much in the room and at the heart of the negotiations that took place and members will benefit from all of the terms of Building Momentum.

The Deputy may be aware that the Department of Defence recently implemented two of the pay-related recommendations of the commission with direct relevance to the Naval Service, namely, that all personnel of private 3 star able seaman rank will be paid the full rate of military service allowance applicable to the rank while at the same time, the requirement for that cohort to mark time for the first three years at that rank will be removed so that is welcome.

The Deputy raised an issue around sea-going allowances. The high-level action plan also provided for the evaluation of replacing the existing sea-going allowances with less complex sea-going duty measures. A business case was prepared by civil and military staff and has been submitted to my Department. It has been considered by my officials, who have raised certain questions, as would be normal in respect of that business case and have sought further information so engagement is continuing with the Department of Defence. Once those queries have been answered, we will come to a prompt decision on those issues.

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