Cathal Crowe
Question:321. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Defence the status of contracts for certain Defence Force workers to allay concerns regarding their contracts post-2022 (details supplied) [27666/21]
View answerTuesday, 25 May 2021
Questions (321)
Written answers
The Report of the Public Service Pay Commission (PSPC) on Recruitment and Retention in the Defence Forces was published on 4 July 2019. The Report was accepted in full by the Government at that time and, to facilitate implementation, an extensive High Level Plan titled "Strengthening our Defence Forces – Phase One” was also agreed and published on the same date.
The High Level Plan provides for actions or projects to be undertaken to deliver on the PSPC recommendations. It also proposes a timeframe for actions or projects to commence and identifies the lead actor to implement the action or project. The timeframe for commencement of actions is split into four distinct timelines i.e. immediate, short-term, medium-term and long-term.
The project to consider options to tackle barriers to extended participation in the PDF (including the possibility of extending retirement ages for members of the PDF) was identified as a medium term project being jointly led by my Department and the Defence Forces.
After initial research, it was decided that this project would be divided into two phases. The first phase, focusing on reviewing mandatory retirement ages for Officers and the second phase to review contracts of service for enlisted personnel. It was agreed with PDFORRA that enlisted privates and corporals who had reached 21 years’ service and are under 50, could remain in service until the end 2022. Sergeants who were due to retire are also permitted to continue to serve until that timeframe. These measures mean that that review could take place in an extended timeframe.
A report on the first phase of this project, reviewing mandatory retirement ages for Officers, was completed by the joint civil-military Project team and is currently with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform awaiting clarification on certain issues. Work on the second phase, examining contracts of service for enlisted personnel is underway and progressing well.
Any proposals or decision that arise from these considerations relating to mandatory retirement ages will be discussed with the Representative Associations.