Gerald Nash (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Like Senator Craughwell and others, I am sometimes ashamed at the way we treat members of the Defence Forces in this country.On countless occasions in recent years, in some cases predating the recession, I have met family members of Defence Forces personnel who are on the breadline, do not earn enough to make ends meet and believe they are not supported by the State. At a public meeting I organised in the centre of Dublin two weeks ago on the future of work I met the wives and partners of several members of the Defence Forces who are campaigning for better supports, incomes and treatment in general for their wives and partners. One way of doing this is to ensure members of the Defence Forces and their representative bodies have access to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and, ultimately, the Labour Court because they do not have such access and there is a trend across Europe that suggests it is the right thing to do. Access to a labour relations commission is a human right across the world. A person has an entitlement to ensure he or she has such access to vindicate his or her rights in the workplace. That access to the labour relations machinery of the State to vindicate individual workplace rights would somehow put the security of the State at risk which is trotted out time and again is absolute nonsense. That has not been the case in any country in which such rights have been introduced. This issue was raised during the lifetime of the previous Government and pushed to a certain point. A review group has been set up to consider access rights to the WRC and the Labour Court for members of An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces. I ask the Leader to update the House on when members of An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces will receive the right to access the labour relations machinery of the State to have their individual workplace rights vindicated.