Vol. 457 No. 1
23 Mr. E. Byrne asked the Minister for Defence whether the sub-committee of the conciliation council operating under the conciliation and arbitration scheme for the Permanent Defence Forces has concluded its review of grievance procedures in view of his replies to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 204 of 31 January 1995 and 21 of 18 May 1995; the conclusions, if any, it reached; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14969/95]
Agreement was reached last month with the Permanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association on revised complaints procedures for enlisted personnel of the Permanent Defence Forces. Discussions with the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers on revised complaints procedures for officers of the PDF are continuing. I anticipate that agreement with RACO will be reached shortly.
I understand agreement has been reached with certain sectors of the Defence Forces but that RACO has not yet concluded negotiations.
Agreement has been reached with PDFORRA on revised complaints procedures.
I welcome that and members of PDFORRA will be delighted to hear the good news that a proper procedure is now in place. Will the Minister agree that approximately 65 complaints have been made by members of the Defence Forces in the past and that procedures were in need of review? Is he satisfied that these procedures will apply to all sectors of the Permanent Defence Forces? Will there be a special procedure for members of the Naval Service, RACO and PDFORRA or a combined grievance procedure?
I hope that all sections of the Defence Forces will accept the new agreement now in place which includes the appointment of an independent complaints inquiry officer, to which I was delighted to agree. The complaints inquiry officer will be nominated by me in agreement with the representative associations. It is my intention, certainly in the initial stages, that all complaints will be referred to the complaints officer prior to coming to me. We have succeeded, therefore, in introducing another tier to the structure. I accept the Deputy's view that it is important that the procedures in place are acceptable to the members and that they are seen to be fair and equitable.
I welcome the appointment of an independent arbitrator. Will the Minister indicate whether the appointee will be from the Army personnel staff or a civilian?
It will be someone who is totally independent of me and of the military authorities. I will nominate the individual but only after consulation with the representative associations. For the information of the Deputy, complaints will be processed within a time-frame of eight weeks from the date of the complaint to the date of submission to me as Minister. The complainant will be given the opportunity of presenting his or her case orally. Complaints not resolved will be investigated in an impartial manner by a third party independent of both myself and the military chain of command. The complaints inquiry officer will be appointed with the agreement of the representative associations. Having considered the recommendations of the complaints inquiry officer, I will give a reasoned decision on a case. I am pleased that we have finally reached agreement on this issue and I am confident it will be acceptable to all sides.
Is the Minister aware of any common thread linking the 65 complaints that have been made to date? Is there a thread linking one year's group of complainants to another and, if so, has the Minister taken any steps to alleviate the cause of those grievances?
Some of the complaints which came to my notice were in relation to promotion and the fact that somebody thought they were in such a senior position they should have been automatically promoted, whereas that would have been only one aspect of the consideration as to who should be appointed to a senior position. Some of the complaints would have involved a lack of understanding of procedures. Now that agreement has been reached on this matter I hope we can assist the representative associations and perhaps better inform their members by taking the examples given by the Deputy or perhaps setting out the parameters in which people are considered for promotion. We may have to make more information available to people so that they understand procedures.
