Pay deters youth from defence jobs

THERE is a danger that technically talented young people will not be attracted to the Defence Forces because of low pay rates for apprentices, a senior PDFORRA member has warned.

At present, about 200 apprentices receive €190 weekly wages after deductions for food and accommodation.

But, Simon Devereux, deputy general secretary of the PDFORRA — the representative organisation for 9,500 rank and file defence force members — said it was not sufficient payment.

Some had served on overseas missions, while completing their apprenticeships, and overseas service would clearly continue for these personnel, he added.

He told the PDFORRA conference, in Tralee, the main risk was that these personnel would leave the forces, or that the forces would fail to attract technically minded people because of pay scales.

Mr Devereux said a claim to the Department of Defence for an increase in apprentice pay had been rejected.

Meanwhile, PDFORRA president Willie Webb claimed medical services available to enlisted personnel had been deteriorating for the last decade.

“At the centre of the problem is the inability of the Medical Corps to recruit sufficient medical officers to provide services,” he told delegates.

As a solution, he called for army doctors to be paid more and given the opportunity of promotion.

If necessary, Mr Webb went on, PDFORRA had no objection to medical services being provided by civilian doctors, as had been the case since the 1950s.

“The problem that we have now is that we have very few medical and surgical specialists and we also have very few military hospitals,” he said.

“PDFORRA has suggested that this financial sanction be reversed and that the patient be brought to the specialist regardless of where specialists are located,” he said.

He called for substantial investment in infrastructure and more competitive salaries for specialists and doctors, at home and abroad, to help meet soldiers’ medical needs.