Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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46. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence when he will implement the Defence Forces working time agreement and make improvements to the post-2013 pension arrangements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42112/24]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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In terms of the Working Time Directive , earlier this year, I approved a management position on the implementation of the Working Time Directive across the Defence Forces, including protections for military activities, deemed outside the scope of the Directive, due to their nature.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment are working to develop the appropriate legislative mechanism to bring the Defence Forces within the scope of the Act as soon as possible, and are also engaging with the Office of the Attorney General on this matter. This is a priority for Government.

A decision has been made by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, to amend primary legislation by way of Regulations under the European Communities Act 1972 and I would hope that a Statutory Instrument can be finalised by the end of the year to remove the blanket exclusion of the Defence Forces from the Working Time Directive.

As I have previously stated, this piece of work is hugely important for each member of our Defence Forces. The implementation of the Working Time Directive is correctly seen as an important retention measure, and will ensure that health and safety protections, as prescribed in the Directive, are afforded to serving personnel.

With regard to pension arrangements and specifically post-2013 pension arrangements, I wish to advise the Deputy that pension arrangements are a matter for the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, not for individual departments.