PDForra conference: Adjudicator to resolve Naval Service pay row

An adjudicator has finally been appointed to resolve a dispute over allowances paid to Naval Service personnel on migrant rescue missions in the Mediterranean Sea, more than a year after such a process was promised.

The independent adjudicator is to meet with PDForra representatives and Department of Defence officials on October 26 to decide if navy personnel who have served on the mission should receive a higher overseas allowance than the rate already received.

The issue was raised last year after the first of the navy ships had been tasked to assist the Italians in rescuing migrants, packed into inadequate and often deathtrap boats by people-smugglers who set them adrift off the Libyan coast.