Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 74 and 97 together.

I wish to reassure the Deputy of my ongoing commitment, as Minister for Defence, to the removal of the blanket exemption which currently applies to the Defence Forces in the Organisation of Working Time Act. Significant progress has been made recently on this body of work. Earlier this year, I approved the final management position, which was presented to me following extensive consultations involving the PDF representative associations and civilian-military management. While the military authorities have advised that a high percentage of the normal everyday work of the Defence Forces is already in compliance with the working time directive, the final approved management position provides for the exemption of certain military activities, due to their specific nature, as well as a number of agreed protections for those exempted activities.

The next step is to develop the appropriate legislative mechanism. To this end, I recently wrote to my colleague the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Peter Burke, whose Department holds responsibility for this legislation, notifying him of the final management position approved by me. My officials are now currently engaged in formal dialogue with that Department to remove the blanket exemption and to provide for activities that are considered outside of the scope of the directive. My officials are also progressing the necessary underpinning required for those agreed protections associated with the activities which are deemed to be exempt from the scope of the directive due to their specific nature, and this element of the process is continuing.

I am sure the Deputy will agree that this is a very significant piece of work which will benefit the entire Defence Forces. The implementation of the working time directive across the Defence Forces will also serve as an important retention measure which will ensure that health and safety protections as prescribed in the directive are afforded to serving personnel. The pilot time and attendance system undertaken by the military authorities recently, and the follow-on procurement process now under way for a long-term electronic solution, will lead to the development of a robust system to record the daily working hours of every member of the Defence Forces. This will be a critical enabler in taking forward the implementation of the directive.

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