Over 500 troops are involved in peacekeeping efforts across two UN missions.

The Department of Defence has agreed to pay financial compensation and provide extra days leave to soldiers after it was alleged they worked excessive hours which breached the EU Working Time Directive (WTD).

The association representing the country’s frontline Defence Forces has taken a case to the Council of Europe to force the State to recognise the right of soldiers, sailors and aircrew to register as conscientious objectors.

Military management has absolutely nothing to fear from rank and file Defence Forces personnel having an affiliation with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).

The Government has been called out for its “hypocrisy” for calling on the public to recognise the work of the national services while at the same time not paying the defence forces members “a comparable wage”.

The two representative associations for the Defence Forces are set to have their national executive meeting within days to consider the fall-out from the Public Service Pay Commission (PSPC) report.

The naval service is to tie-up two of its ships in port indefinitely due to a deepening manpower crisis.

130 members of the Defence Forces are, for the second time in a year, unable to return home to their families tomorrow.

Up to 500 soldiers, sailors and aircrews who were supposed to be compulsorily retired next year are to be given a three-year extension to their contracts.

Dozens of cases over EU working time laws could cost State millions

The Naval Service has contacted members of its reserve in an attempt to lure them into full-time service to fill posts left vacant due to a major crisis in retention and recruitment.

The Department of Defence has not replaced the only psychiatrist working in the Defence Forces Medical Corps since he left the job earlier this year, leaving a void in treatment for soldiers and sailors who are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The deepening crisis in the Defence Forces will be laid bare at a conference

A landmark case won by the association representing the country’s frontline Defence Forces is expected to open the floodgates for further claims against the Department of Defence.

Fears have been expressed that the Defence Forces will find it difficult to recruit enough personnel to keep pace with early retirements as the number of people applying to join up dropped by nearly half between the last two recruitment campaigns.

Latest: A member of the Public Accounts Committee has said an inquiry may be held into the sale of a Naval Service boat - which is already back on the market at six times the price.

The head of the Naval Service is supporting a call that personnel working on humanitarian rescue missions in the Mediterranean be given a higher overseas duty allowance.

Members of the Defence Forces who were due to lose their jobs as part of a plan to lower the military’s age profile have won a reprieve.

Soldiers are sleeping in their cars outside army barracks because they can no longer afford to drive home to their families.