Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 12: To ask the Minister for Defence if he will report on his attendance at the recent PDFORRA annual delegate conference in Athlone; the issues he addressed in his speech to the conference; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31992/05]

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 49: To ask the Minister for Defence if he will report on his attendance at the recent PDFORRA conference in Athlone; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32045/05]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 12 and 49 together.

On 5 October 2005, as Minister for Defence, I addressed the annual delegate conference of the Permanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association, PDFORRA. I sought to make my address relevant, informative and positive and discussed topics of interest to military delegates, their colleagues and to the wider community. Those topics included the representative process, new terms of contract for post-1994 soldiers, the White Paper on Defence, bullying and harassment, future pay policy, equal opportunity and the review of measures with a view to maximising the number of women applicants into the Irish Defence Forces. I believe my speech was well received by the assembled delegates and I am grateful to the Deputies for their interest in my address which can be accessed from my Department's website, www.defence.ie.

Among the issues raised by PDFORRA were anti-bullying structures, appointment of an Ombudsman, availability of medical services, the new terms of contract for post-1994 soldiers and affiliation to ICTU. Some of these matters have been raised in other questions today where I will deal with them in greater detail.