Military reservists claim pay discrimination

Defence Forces reserves are being discriminated against because they are not getting the same pay and conditions as regulars in the Army, Naval Service and Air Corps.

One extraordinary anomaly is that Naval Service reservists are required to have perfect 20/20 vision, whereas those serving in the frontline force do not.

This and a number of other issues have been raised by Neil Richardson, general secretary of the Reserve Defence Forces Representative Association (RDFRA).

“An applicant for the Naval Service Reserve can be rejected on eyesight grounds, but that same person can then apply for and successfully join the Permanent Defence Forces Naval Service. The permanent force will accept candidates of varying eyesight standards, but the Naval Service Reserve is only permitted to recruit those with 20/20 vision,” Mr Richardson said.

He said those with eyesight issues in the regulars are posted into units dealing with logistics and supplies, but this is not done with reservists who were quite capable of doing those jobs.

Mr Richardson said the minister with responsibility for defence, Paul Kehoe, had committed to changing these standards 10 months ago, but it has not happened yet.

“The reserve will be recruiting again April 1 and so time is of the essence. If the eyesight standards are not updated by then, many more Naval Service Reserve applicants will be turned away unnecessarily,” he said.

Also, reservists are not being paid the rates they should for training.

The reserve is supposed to be paid on a par with the lowest permanent Defence Forces pay scale for each rank, but there is now an average 18% discrepancy between permanent and reserve pay rates that the Department of Defence has allowed to come into existence. This is in breach of two ministerial Defence Forces regulations,” Mr Richardson said.

He said as such there was a “substantial” amount of money owed and there were also issues with payments being delayed.

Mr Richardson said the current strength of the reserves is 1,840, far short of the 4,069 its supposed to be and like the permanent forces those leaving the reserves are outstripping recruitment.

A new recruitment model specifically for reserves has been designed but still not been implemented.

“The reserve is not being properly utilised, and is instead only being tasked with training for training’s sake. This position is untenable and ignores the wealth of specialist skills and qualifications that members of the reserve possess. These skills could be properly utilised by the Defence Forces for the benefit of the State,” Mr Richardson said.

He mentioned a number of these issues while addressing the Oireachtas committee on defence yesterday.