asked the Minister for Defence if he has any plans to ensure that the training of Army personnel in specific fields will enable them to receive trade union cards on leaving the service.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Army Personnel Training.
32.
The trade union organisations have agreed that personnel trained and qualified under the schemes for the training of apprentices in the Army Apprentice School, Naas, and in the Air Corps Apprentice School may, on return to civilian life, be admitted as members of the appropriate trade unions.
A limited number of men of the Permanent Defence Force attend apprenticeship courses in certain trades at AnCO training centres each year and then continue their training in the Army and at technical colleges. They will be eligible for membership of the appropriate trade unions when they return to civilian life.
In relation to the courses mentioned by the Minister in reply to the previous question——
The Deputy cannot revert to the previous question.
Will those who attend the technical colleges, in addition to those attending the apprenticeship schools at Naas and Baldonnel, be entitled to trade union cards?
I would expect so. The trade unions have been very good in this regard. In fact, Senator Mullen, the general secretary of the biggest trade union here, the ITGWU has expressed his concern to me and told me of his efforts to give a union card to positively every ex-PDF man he can. That is being done. I am certain that there is no discrimination by the unions and that an ex-PDF man gets a union card.