Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 December 2016
46. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence his proposals to compensate Defence Forces members for lost leave in circumstances in which members who travelled overseas had significant leave to take and in which it was not possible to take that leave for various reasons such as training commitments or a shortage of personnel to provide cover and in view of the fact that members cannot carry over this leave to the next year. [39807/16]
View answerThe provisions for the granting of annual leave to members of the Permanent Defence Force (PDF) are set out in Paragraph 16 of Defence Forces Regulations A.11. The current provision in relation to annual leave that cannot be availed of is that Officers can carry-over a maximum of 24 days and Other Ranks can carry-over a maximum of 19 days.
The Deputy may wish to note that personnel who serve overseas are also in receipt of leave from the mission in accordance with the mission’s Standard Operating Procedures during their deployment, which is generally three weeks. In addition, all personnel serving overseas also receive special leave immediately upon their return from overseas service, which is six days per calendar month that the individual served overseas up to a maximum of 30 days. This is in addition to the facility to carry-over leave stated earlier.
The Department received a claim from PDFORRA under the Conciliation and Arbitration scheme to have the provisions for the carrying over of annual leave, currently capped at 19 days, set aside. Having considered the matter, the Department advised PDFORRA on the 23 November 2016 that, on the basis of the case made by them, it was not in a position to accede to their claim.
I have been advised by my officials that legal proceedings have been commenced recently in relation to this matter and, as the matter is before the courts, it would not be appropriate for me to comment further.
