Coveney admits low pay problems in Defence Forces

The Minister for Defence, Simon Coveney, has admitted there is an issue around low pay for personnel in the forces and he plans to review it.

It follows reports that some soldiers are being forced to sleep in cars some nights because they can't afford the fuel to travel.

As many as one in five families with an employee in the Defence Forces have their income supplemented by welfare payments.

"There are lots of families and people within the public sector … that have had to get supports from the State in terms of income levels in recent years, for all sorts of individual and in some cases, very complex reasons," Coveney said.

"But there are issues within the Defence Forces around pay and remuneration that will be the subject of a review in the not-too-distant future."