156. Deputy Cathal Berry asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence when the necessary legislative provisions to implement the working time directive will be enacted with consideration for previous announcements (details supplied). [43236/24]

Significant work has been undertaken to date between my officials and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, to progress the removal of the blanket exemption of the Defence Forces from the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997.

As the Deputy is aware, responsibility for developing the legislative mechanism to remove the blanket exemption from that Act lies with that Department and to that end, I am pleased to report that it has been confirmed by my colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Peter Burke, TD. that the blanket exemption in the Organisation of Working Time Act, for the Defence Forces, will be removed by way of a Statutory Instrument through the European Communities Act.

Furthermore, my colleague intends to have this Regulation enacted by year-end.

This is a very positive development and as the Deputy will appreciate, this body of work has been a priority for myself, Minister Burke, Minister Higgins and the wider Government and my officials and officials in Enterprise, Trade and Employment have been working to progress this as quickly as possible.

The Military Authorities have previously determined that the vast majority of activities are compliant with the Directive. As part of the management position approved by me earlier this year however, I have approved a series of health and safety protections for a number of activities deemed to be outside the scope of the Directive due to their nature. These protections will be implemented as part of the overall package underpinning the implementation of the Working Time Directive.

I am very pleased that this significant Government commitment is now nearing fruition and that members of the Defence Forces are soon to be brought within the scope of the Directive.