Joe Costello
Ceist:49 Mr. Costello asked the Minister for Defence the position regarding the discussions with the representative organisations regarding the benchmarking report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26057/02]
Written Answers. - Benchmarking Report.
Members of the Defence Forces are prohibited from belonging to trade unions and as a result their representative associations are not affiliated to ICTU. This means the associations do not participate directly in the negotiations between the social partners which have led to national agreements.
In the course of discussions on the PPF, agreement was reached with the Defence Force representative associations on a framework which would facilitate them engaging with the official side in talks parallel to those taking place between the social partners at national level. Under the terms of this agreement, representatives of the Departments of the Taoiseach, Finance, Defence, and the military authorities, met collectively and separately with representatives of PDFORRA and RACO. These meetings were supplemented by a number of bilateral meetings between the various parties. This process ensured the associations were fully aware of developments at the central discussions while at the same time having a forum to raise matters of particular concern to them.
Based on the established model, parallel discussions with the Defence Forces representative associations on how the public service benchmarking body's recommendations on achieving real outputs from modernisation, flexibility and change can be implemented in the Defence Forces commenced on 22 October and are continuing.