Gabrielle McFadden (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House again. On 3 August 1923, the new Irish State passed the Defence Forces Act, which raised an armed force to be called Óglaigh na hÉireann, comprising such numbers of officers, non-commissioned officers and men as may from time to time be provided by the Oireachtas, the new Parliament of the Irish Free State. Ever since that time, the men and women of Óglaigh na hÉireann have served the State loyally and bravely, and they deserve our support. Earlier I proudly took part in the respect and loyalty march because I support better pay for the Defence Forces. We owe them not only our respect but also a fair living. There is no need to rehearse the litany of great work they do at home and abroad, their dignity in times of ceremony, their empathy in times of community distress or the bravery they showed over the decades of attack by the dark forces of the paramilitaries. I have done that a dozen times in the House.

I do not argue we need to pay members of the Defence Forces more to compete with other careers in the economy now that we are approaching full employment. I call for better pay and conditions for one reason only: they deserve it - no more, no less. There is no point in us continuing to blame Fianna Fáíl. While the party caused the mess, Fine Gael is in government now and it is up to us to do what we have always done throughout the history of this State, which is to do the right thing for the men and women of Óglaigh na hÉireann, and the right thing for the country.

Will the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence and the Minister of State with direct responsibility for this issue, Deputy Kehoe, shake off the reticence of the bureaucrats in the Department and ensure that men and women of the Defence Forces get a fair day's pay for a fair day's work? The fact that significant numbers of them have to rely on family income support is unacceptable. We must make work pay. Military life is tough and requires many sacrifices from those who serve and from their loved ones. They know this when they enlist but they should not have to make sacrifices on a basic standard of living to serve their country. Members of the Army, the Navy and the Air Corps should get the same rate of pay as a civilian in a comparable job.On top of that, they deserve additional payment to compensate for the extra challenges they face as serving personnel, such as time away from family, unsociable hours and working under pressure.

These are the people who get up early in the morning, work long hours, nights and weekends and serve us with loyalty and professionalism. They deserve a break and we must never shirk from standing up for them, nor should we ever apologise for doing so.

I ask the Minister to make the issue of military service allowance his priority in the coming weeks. I ask him to fight for the resources necessary to implement an increase in this allowance as part of this year's budget. I ask him to call for an immediate report from the Public Service Pay Commission, whose job it is to establish whether, and to what extent, a difficulty exists in terms of recruitment and retention of specific sectors of the public service and to make proposals to Government for appropriate remuneration. We want this now.

In the case of the Defence Forces, the difficulties are clear. We have had the findings of the workplace climate in Defence Forces study for some time now and, in the interim period, personnel are voting with their feet. They are walking away. The solution is clear: pay people enough to make military service an attractive career option. It is that simple. For almost 100 years, the Defence Forces stood up for us and now it is time for us to stand up for them. Go raibh maith agat.