Defence Forces 'will never recover' without Working Time Directive, says RACO chief

Lt Col King added that recruitment efforts are being "severely undermined" by ongoing breaches of the WTD and unsafe staffing levels in units across the three services of Óglaigh na hÉireann. File picture

The association representing the country’s military officers has warned Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Micheál Martin that unless he addresses a number of issues, especially the implementation of the Working Time Directive (WTD), the Defence Forces “will never recover” from its personnel crisis.

RACO, the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers, provided the warning after Mr Martin recently spoke of some measures he wants to introduce to make military life more attractive.

RACO general secretary Lieutenant Colonel Conor King said Mr Martin was “absolutely right” to admit there are no quick fixes to the current problems. However, he said, for years “his department (Department of Defence) has ignored irrefutable evidence of a decline that has become engrained within the organisation and avoided implementing the WTD."

The senior officer said the implementation of the WTD is "a crucial retention initiative" that can enhance work/life balance, provide greater health and safety for the military and "ultimately benefit operational capability through the valuing and retention of highly skilled personnel."

However, he added that it will only succeed if it is implemented through a mutually acceptable collective agreement.

"Agreed derogations and, in extreme circumstances, exemptions from the health and safety limits of the WTD can only be introduced with agreed associated protections in terms of compensatory time off, overtime or other allowances, as recommended by the Commission on the Defence Forces," Lt Col King said.

He said the Defence Forces still does not even record the working time of its personnel, effectively writing a blank cheque with the time of its members and their families, "with devastating consequences for morale and retention".

"Appropriate methods for addressing hours worked in excess of expected norms are best negotiated between management and the representative associations," he said.

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Lt Col King claimed the Department of Defence is seeking to deny the representative associations the right to a negotiated agreement, and quotes the Trade Union Act 1941 as its basis for this denial of rights.

"Increasingly, the entitlement of Defence Forces members to the same employment rights as workers on the same footing as any other citizen are being recognised. RACO remains committed to implementation of the WTD in a collaborative manner by collective agreement, that caters for the organisation and the individual," he said.

Lt Col King added that recruitment efforts are being "severely undermined" by ongoing breaches of the WTD and unsafe staffing levels in units across the three services of Óglaigh na hÉireann.

He said civil and military management have disappointingly proposed a lengthy list of exemptions from the health and safety provisions of the WTD. The senior officer said that if the exemptions are forced through the Defence Forces will continue to decline and we will "wonder why we can’t carry out our domestic or international roles."

Mr Martin said he hopes to have WTD proposals for the Defence Forces completed this year.