Defence Forces pay delays slammed

The head of a military representative association has described as “disgraceful” the failure to pay many young recruits to the Defence Forces for several weeks their pay and allowances.

More than 30 recruits in the Naval Service who have been in training for the past five weeks received just €200 in pay from the Department of Defence until they were finally paid in full on November 22.

Several recruits in the Army, who enlisted on October 16, also didn’t get their full pay until the same day. Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) held a whip round to help some of them out.