Defence Forces Dail Éireann — 2026-05-13 ============================================================ Niall Collins (FF), Limerick County I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. The Minister for Defence is at the annual PDFORRA delegate conference today. Bringing the Defence Forces within the remit of the Organisation of Working Time Act has been a key issue for the Defence Forces representative associations for a number of years. The inclusion of the Defence Forces under the Organisation of Working Time Act required careful consideration and extensive consultation in getting here and recognises the unique nature of the work carried out by our Defence Forces members. A particular consideration was of course those military activities which, due to their nature, continue to be exempt from the Act. As the Deputy will be aware, it is over 12 months now since the blanket exemption from the Organisation of Working Time Act for Defence Forces personnel was removed in January 2025, and the majority of Defence Forces personnel now enjoy the protections of the Act, including daily and weekly rest and maximum weekly working time over a 17-week period. I have mentioned that, due to their specific nature, a number of military activities continue to be exempted from the provisions of the working time directive. However, it is important to point out that a number of health and safety protections for those involved in such tasks have been agreed, including prescribed compensatory rest periods, which are now incorporated into Defence Forces regulation. This body of work is rightly seen as a significant step forward in the extensive transformational journey already well under way in the Defence Forces. A range of additional health and safety measures were also agreed, with a number of them already implemented, including the provision of one return commercial home-reunion flight to Ireland in respect of an operational tour of duty of six months, where the security assessment by the military authorities determines that the individual cannot avail of leave in-theatre. In addition, enhanced Wi-Fi services in UNIFIL have been put in place. Upon the removal of the blanket exemption last year, the Chief of Staff was clear in communicating the responsibilities of Defence Forces management on the implementation of all aspects of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 across the entire Defence Forces. This included ensuring that commanding officers are fully aware of their management responsibilities with regard to both activities coming within the scope of the directive, and for those activities which are exempt. Military management is continuing to progress the implementation of a number of remaining health and safety protections and a Defence Forces working group has been convened for this purpose. Some of those measures requiring additional funding beyond existing resources are to be addressed in line with the normal Estimates process. The military authorities have advised that in the intervening months, numerous briefings have been undertaken across the Defence Forces in addition to the availability of an instructional video. In addition, an instruction document from the Chief of Staff providing guidance to commanders and their personnel on all aspects of the implementation process, coupled with the Defence Forces' non-financial labour budget system, which is now in place, both provide important management tools in ensuring that the provisions of the directive are correctly applied. The Defence Forces are also leading on the development and implementation of a permanent electronic time and attendance system which is expected to be in place later this year. In the meantime, an interim time and attendance system has been put in place. I am assured that all necessary measures are being taken to ensure the protections of the working time directive are implemented fully on the ground. In that context, the working time directive subcommittee through the conciliation and arbitration scheme continues to meet on a regular basis. Using this forum, any issues which have arisen which pertain to the practical implementation on the ground of the protections set out in the directive have been brought to the attention of the Defence Forces management. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-13/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:03+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-13