Vol. 458 No. 7
6 Mr. E. Byrne asked the Minister for Defence the progress made during the ongoing discussions with RACO regarding complaints procedures for officers of the Permanent Defence Forces; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17520/95]
Agreement was reached in September last with the Permanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association on revised complaints procedures for enlisted personnel of the Permanent Defence Force. Discussions with the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers on revised complaints procedures for officers of the PDF are continuing. A meeting on this subject took place between officials of my Department and the association on 17 November 1995 and I anticipate that the matter will be finalised at the next meeting which is due to take place shortly. Discussions within the conciliation and arbitration scheme are confidential and it would not be appropriate for me to comment further at this time.
I would like to think that progress will be made and solutions will be found to the problems in the near future. Since the Minister has had success in concluding an agreement with PDFORRA, why are negotiations with the officers proving much more difficult?
The advice given to me is that discussions with the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers are progressing very well and I am confident agreement will be reached shortly.
