Bernard J. Durkan
Question:11 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Defence the extent to which pay and conditions in the Defence Forces compare to other European Union member states; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18269/01]
Other Questions. - Defence Forces Remuneration.
A wide range of different rates of pay for military personnel can be found across the EU. 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 is varied.
Members of the Irish Permanent Defence Force are better paid than members of defence forces in some EU member states. Equally, they are paid less than the members of defence forces in some other EU countries. In some instances, a country may pay a certain category of service personnel a higher rate than the Irish equivalent, while paying others a lower rate than that obtaining in Ireland. 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 in this context is a comparison of the relative levels of pay across the various sectors of the Irish public sector. In this regard, in general, the level of remuneration in the defence sector has maintained relativity with the levels available in other public sector employments.
In signing up to the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, both of the Permanent Defence Force representative associations also agreed to participate in the first ever public service benchmarking process. In their recent submissions to the benchmarking body, neither of the associations felt it relevant to draw on pay comparisons with defence forces in other EU member states, although they validly referred to the various methodologies and mechanisms used in other countries to calculate defence forces' pay.
The benchmarking process is a genuine attempt to set pay levels for the Irish public service in the context of the Irish economy and not the economy of any other EU country. Benchmarking is an open, independent and progressive way of tackling the setting of appropriate pay levels and the process is providing the Defence Forces representative associations with an opportunity to present their cases in relation to their members' pay levels. Only by operating within the framework of national programmes like the PPF and using the benchmarking process can we continue to make economic and social progress in the future.
Will the Minister indicate by what date he expects the current benchmarking process, which is under way in the sense that submissions have been made, to reach a conclusion with regard to the Defence Forces? When does he expect to know the outcome of the process?
When the benchmarking process began, it was envisaged that the bulk of the work would be concluded and recommendations would be made by the middle or end of 2002. It has proved to be exhaustive work. The associations have done a considerable amount of work in this regard and that information will go into the pool for consideration. It is likely that decisions will be reached by the middle of next year, but definitely by the end of 2002.
Will the Minister speed up the process? Will he acknowledge that there is now considerable difficulty recruiting new members of the Defence Forces and that the reason for this difficulty is that the pay received by members of the Defence Forces is at variance with what can be received in civilian life by many of those who are currently members of the Defence Forces? Does he acknowledge that there will be ongoing difficulty in recruiting new people to the Defence Forces until the pay structure is modernised? In that context, will the Minister consider speeding up the timeframe for the completion of the benchmarking process with regard to members of the Defence Forces?
I am most anxious to facilitate this work in every possible way. On the basis of the figures in other countries, the Defences Forces do better than most countries and not as well as others in terms of pay. There are many variations. There is a special superannuation pension scheme for members of the Defence Forces which is extremely attractive. However, the benchmarking process provides an opportunity to conclude the work on the comparison between employment in the private and public sectors. Considerations must be taken into account in that regard.
The difficulty with regard to recruitment does not relate only to pay. It also relates to competition for people that did not exist up to now. Consideration is being given to changing some of the recruitment programmes to take further account of the stresses that exist due to competition in the workplace and the low unemployment rate. It is a major challenge and everything possible will be done to speed up a successful outcome to the benchmarking process. It is important to maintain numbers and recruit young blood to enable the Defence Forces develop in the future.
Does the Minister agree it is important that members of the same force have similar pay and conditions? Given Ireland's proposed entry to the rapid reaction force, will he outline—
The time for this question has expired and we must move to Question No. 12.
I thank the Ceann Comhairle.