PDFORRA HAS defended the payment of up to 60 “allowances” to members of the Permanent Defence Force, describing them as part of “basic pay”.
General secretary Gerry Rooney told reporters at the association’s annual delegate conference that most of the payments were made “either for carrying out higher level duties or working extra hours”.
Mr Rooney said any discussion on the subject needed to take into account that the money involved was “part of basic pay and covered by the Croke Park agreement”.
The allowances dated from the early 1970s, said Mr Rooney, when a Border patrol payment was agreed in the absence of overtime for Army personnel, and was worth up to €2,500 for some members.
Delegates also heard that the defence budget has been cut by about 22 per cent since 2008, from €877 million to €688 million this year. Chief of Staff Lieut Gen Seán McCann said this figure “was not, and is not, sufficient to sustain either the organisation . . . or the numbers required to run it”.