Tanaiste willing to ‘engage’ on cadet pay

The Department of Defence is willing to engage “constructively” on low pay for cadets, the Tanaiste has said.

Simon Harris made the comment at a press conference on the outskirts of the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers’ (RACO) annual conference in Trim, Co Meath.

The RACO, which represents 1,225 serving officers of the Permanent Defence Forces, has pressed Mr Harris to urgently increase the pay of cadets – saying their compensation is less than the minimum wage.

RACO general secretary Lieutenant Colonel Conor King said: “Cadet pay remains the lowest in the Defence Forces, at just 493.45 euro per week, compared to 540.05 euro for a recruit.

“Cadets remain on this pay for the entirety of their first year, while recruits move to an annual salary of 41,879.67 euro after just six months.

“Within that first year, a cadet earns 40.7% less than their enlisted counterpart, highlighting the significant early pay gap.”

Speaking to reporters at the Knightsbrook Hotel, Mr Harris, who is also Minister for Defence, said: “There’s still great interest in being a cadet in the Defence Forces, and I very much welcome that.

“I think the second thing to say is we have seen a very significant increase in pay in general in the Defence Forces, but there are anomalies that arise, and they relate to the training time that somebody undertakes.

“And I don’t think it’s beyond us to engage in a constructive way.

“Military management, my own department, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform – there’s a number of avenues through which these issues can be considered and can be addressed.

“Local bargaining being one, future pay agreements being the other.

“So I’m happy to engage constructively on this.

“And indeed, I’ll ask my own department and military management to continue to engage.”

The RACO has also called for the Government to allow Defence Forces chaplains to be represented by the body.

Asked if he was open to that move, Mr Harris said: “Yes, I am.

“I think you could always joke that chaplains always have a greater power looking out for them – but our chaplains do a great job in our Defence Forces.

“I’m very proud of the work that they do, the very positive contributions that they make, and they put on the uniform as well.

“It’s been an honour and pleasure to meet many of them over the last period of time, I certainly think that they should be entitled to join representative bodies.”