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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 5 Nov 2002

Vol. 556 No. 3

Written Answers. - Industrial Action.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Ceist:

198 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Defence if he plans to amend the Defence (Amendment) Act, 1990, to allow the provisions of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990, to apply to members of the Defence Forces, thereby enabling them to engage in industrial action; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20529/02]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Ceist:

199 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Defence his views on whether the present inability of the Defence Forces to take lawful industrial action is detrimental to their position in pay negotiations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20530/02]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Ceist:

200 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Defence his views on the fact that members of the Defence Forces, as workers, have a right to engage in industrial action; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20531/02]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 198 to 200, inclusive, together.

I believe that an amendment to the Defence Act to allow the provisions of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990, to apply to members of the Defence Forces would be wholly inappropriate. I am aware that PDFORRA has placed a certain stress on the concept of the soldier as a "citizen in uniform" with the implication that the soldier's conditions of employment should largely replicate conditions in the civilian world. However, in a professional military organisation, this approach is simply not practical and this is widely recognised internationally. The position is that when an individual decides to join the Defence Forces, he or she voluntarily accepts, inter alia, a range of obligations and responsibilities which do not normally arise in the course of civilian employment. The taking of any form of industrial action is irreconcilable with military service.

I am satisfied that the mechanisms available to the representative association through the Defence Forces' conciliation and arbitration scheme – with its access to facilitation and arbitration and parallel discussion during national pay talks – provide a framework within which issues of concern can and should be addressed. I add that members of the Defence Forces have been offered and have accepted the terms of all recent national pay agreements.

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