UNIFIL drawdown 'not end of overseas service' - Mulcahy

Defences Forces Chief of Staff Rossa Mulcahy has said that the drawdown of the UNIFIL mission will be a challenge, but added that "it is not the end of our overseas service".

Lt General Mulcahy rejected the idea that the winding down of the mission, which Ireland has been a part of since 1978, will have a negative effect on recruitment and retention, saying that numbers continued to increase even when it became known that the UNIFIL mission would end.

"I don't see it being a cliff-edge moment," he told reporters a Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (RACO) conference in Trim in Co Meath.

"We will stay on in 11 missions post-UNIFIL and there are opportunities there for people to serve overseas."

He said he will also be providing advice to Minister for Defence Helen McEntee regarding future missions that may involve Irish peacekeepers.

The conference is taking place while the Dáil debates legislation to dismantle the Triple Lock.

Lt General Mulcahy's comments come as the minister responded to criticism from RACO around a number of issues.

RACO yesterday there was distrust and frustration in the Government over promises on pay and conditions not being delivered.

The association, which represents 1,300 serving Defence Forces members at different ranks, has said that there has been a "complete undermining" of industrial relations mechanisms within the sector, and that there is a feeling of "frustration" with authorities.

RACO General Secretary Lieutenant Colonel Conor King yesterday said commitments to improve cadet pay had not yet happened, and also criticised the Government for refusing to pay allowances for additional hours being worked to facilitate Ireland's EU Presidency.

He also said the Department of Defence has not engaged with a unanimous European Committee of Social Rights ruling on overtime that was made last February.

The ruling said that Defence Forces personnel were not being properly compensated with adequate pay or time off for working overtime and on public holidays.

Responding to the European ruling today, Ms McEntee said that she received it officially on 14 October.

She said: "It’s my intention that we would engage immediately, and that we would work closely with RACO and PDFORRA, with the associations, to try and make progress on the recommendations."

Ms McEntee also said she is keen to see progress on the appointment of an adjudicator to the Conciliation and Arbitration scheme, and is "absolutely committed" to making progress on the issue around chaplains, who remain unrepresented in the Defence Forces despite wearing the uniform and being paid by the department.

Last year, Tánaiste Simon Harris gave his support to having the issue addressed, but the conference heard that they remain in "employment-status limbo".

Ms McEntee said recognising them would require legislation, and that she previously asked the Department to look at it.

She also responded to criticisms from RACO over the Department withdrawing support for rationing officers who were in full-time education.

Yesterday, RACO President Lt Col Martin Ryan said denying officers 100 daily meals was "treated as more fitting than delaying the appointment of one new Principal Officer in the Department of Defence".

He said it felt like an "anti-officer decision by our employer and, by extension the minister".

"They have been paid below minimum wage as cadets and now cannot even be fed while attending third-level courses full-time, as other Defence Forces members are," he said.

Ms McEntee denied there had been a withdrawal of support for it, saying there had been "different claims and different processes" going through different groups.

"My intention and objective working with the Defence Forces is to make sure that officers during their training are supported insofar as possible, but there’s been no changes in that regard, it’s not been part of any budgetary discussions or negotiations as suggested previously either."

Responding to a question about pay and conditions, the Chief of Staff said that personnel "do really difficult work in difficult conditions at home and overseas and they deserve to be treated fairly and equitably".

Lt Gen Mulcahy said: "I know the minister has worked with me and the department to progress those matters.

"There has been a lot of change in the last number of years in that regard, so year-on-year - yes, there’s always going to be challenges in every organisation."

He said there is a "shared understanding" of the challenges within the Defence Forces, and that they are looking to address them.

Following Ms McEntee’s address to the conference, RACO General Secretary Lt Col Conor King said her commitments will be "seminal for members of the Defence Forces and a boost to recruitment and retention".

He said there is still a general level of frustration, but that the comments by the minister are "hugely welcome".

RACO President Lt Col Martin Ryan also welcomed her comments, but urged those in power to follow through on previous commitments.

"We've been here before, we've heard some of these promises before."

He said that he has heard successive ministers support increasing cadet pay, "yet here we are at another conference this year, and it hasn’t been introduced".

He called on those in power to deliver, saying it’s a particular issue that "has been raised at two previous conferences and has been unanimously supported, but still isn’t delivered".