Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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435. To ask the Minister for Defence the date on which the adjudicator will sit in 2016 to decide on the provision of the armed overseas peace support allowance, given the overwhelming evidence of all the military authorities. [46650/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Members of the Naval Service engaged in the Maritime Humanitarian Search and Rescue Operation in the Mediterranean were paid the rate for “Unarmed Peace Support Allowance”. This is the same allowance as has been paid in the past to Army personnel deployed on humanitarian operations such as in Sierra Leone and Haiti. The Representative Associations are seeking payment of the Armed Peace Support Allowance and Patrol Duty Allowance in addition to the Unarmed Peace Support Allowance.

The Naval Service operation is not an armed mission in the sense of armed missions in UNIFIL (Lebanon), UNDOF (Golan Heights), Chad etc. where they require to be armed and be able to deliver an armed response to events on the ground as part of the mission mandate. The Humanitarian operation in the Mediterranean does not fall within these parameters. In addition, the fact that Naval Vessels carry arms and have installed guns does not of itself make this an armed mission.

The claims are being processed through the Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme for Members of the Permanent Defence Force process. Discussions have taken place with the Representative Associations with regard to the claims. The Deputy will appreciate that as discussions under the Scheme are confidential to that process, it would be inappropriate for me to make any comment on these claims at this time.