Ulick Burke
Question:44 Mr. U. Burke asked the Minister for Defence if he will respond to the recent call by PDFORRA for closer co-operation between the PDFORRA and the trade union movement. [18167/97]
Written Answers. - Defence Forces Representation.
The legislative position on this matter is quite clear. Sections 2(3) and 2(4) of the Defence (Amendment) Act, 1990, provide that the Defence Forces representative associations shall be independent of and shall not be associated with or affiliated to any trade union or any other body, and furthermore that a member of a repreentative association shall not be or become a member of a trade union or any other body, other than an association, which seeks to influence or otherwise be concerned with the remuneration or other conditions of service members. The position of the Defence Forces representative associations in this regard is identical to the position of the Garda representative associations. The Deputy will appreciate that I am not in a position to comment further on his question regarding PDFORRA as the association has not furnished the specifics of its proposal for my consideration.