Defence Forces
Dail Éireann — 2024-05-16
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

This is the first time ever that there has been a change in terms of allowances and supports for participation in an EU battle group. As I said, in the previous ones there were no allowances as such and this represents progress. The nature of the participation in the battle group is somewhat significantly different from that, say, in a UNIFIL mission or other mission abroad.
There is a claim before the conciliation council under the conciliation and arbitration scheme and that claim will be considered in that space. I cannot comment on that while it is within, but I have taken an interest in this and have pushed for and worked across government to get the changes that I outlined earlier in the latter part of my reply, which represent progress in respect of the EU battle group.
It is a significant opportunity as well in terms of experience and working with peers across Europe. It is not the intention that anybody would be out of pocket.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2024-05-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:57+00:00
Sitting date: 2024-05-16