Concern as department fails to pay defence force wages

ARMY officers have expressed concern over pay systems within the Department of Defence after 1,300 members of the defence forces were not paid their monthly salary on time.

The Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (RACO) said concern about the non-payment of wages which arose yesterday was the latest in a series of problems which had affected the pay section of the Department of Defence in recent months.

The department has admitted that “human error” was responsible for a delay in the monthly salary of 1,300 members of the defence forces not being paid on time.

A spokesperson for the department said the failure to pay the money as usual on the last banking day of the month was due to a “data processing error”.

However, she explained that all affected personnel had been notified that the money should be paid into their bank account within 24 hours.

RACO spokesman Col Brian O’Keeffe said his members accepted the explanation but stressed that any delay could still have a significant impact on anyone trying to meet mortgage and other loan repayments.

He also complained that affected members of the defence forces had not been notified by the department of the problem but had only discovered the issue after checking their own bank accounts.

Col O’Keeffe said another problem had arisen in January when the department had failed to pass on deductions made at source from soldiers’ pay to various banks and lending institutions. He pointed out that several RACO members had incurred a late payment penalty from their bank as a result of the department’s error, although the bank subsequently refunded the sum after representations had been made by RACO.

“We are concerned that every month members are reporting errors relating to their pay which is causing a lot of angst,” said Col O’Keeffe. RACO has called on the Department of Defence to carry out a review of its pay section due to the series of problems which have arisen in recent months.

Fine Gael defence spokesman Jimmy Deenihan said it was inexcusable that a government department, now under the direct control of Taoiseach Brian Cowen following the resignation of Defence Minister Willie O’Dea, could have been so inept as to fail to pay soldiers at a time when members of the defence forces were under serious financial strain.