Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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Question 34: To ask the Minister for Defence the pay scales for members of the Defence Forces; and Ireland's ranking in terms of army pay in the EU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38117/06]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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The current rates of pay and allowances for members of the Defence Forces can be found on my Departments website at www.defence.ie. I propose to circulate with the Official Report a tabular statement setting out the details as requested.

A wide range of different rates of pay for military personnel can be found across the European Union. This reflects the enormous differences in development levels and labour market conditions between member States. The differing rates are also influenced by such matters as the conditions of entry, terms of service, workloads, taskings, superannuation provisions and the taxation and social welfare regimes that apply in the various EU countries. In addition, the nature of national defence organisations themselves is quite varied.

Rates of remuneration and conditions of employment in the Irish public sector are never set by reference to those obtaining in another EU member State. What is much more relevant is a comparison of the relative levels of pay across the various sectors of the Irish public sector and private sector.

In this regard, the pay of Defence Forces personnel has benefited from national pay agreements and from benchmarking against the private sector. As you may be aware there is a benchmarking process currently underway with a report due in 2007.