147. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Defence her views on the matter of there being no adjudicator in place for the Defence Forces conciliation and arbitration scheme since June 2025; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54265/26]

Thank you Deputy for raising this issue.

As you may be aware, efforts to nominate an Adjudicator for the Conciliation and Arbitration (C&A) Scheme for the Permanent Defence Forces have been underway for some time. The C&A Scheme for the Defence Forces is the primary mechanism for addressing industrial relations issues in the Defence sector. It supports constructive engagement between management and military representative associations on issues of interest to members of the Permanent Defence Forces that come within the scope of representation.

The Scheme provides for an Arbitration process to assist in the resolution of disputes which remain unresolved following engagement and which become the subject of formal disagreement. The Scheme includes provision for an Adjudicator and an Arbitration Board.

Under the agreed Terms of Reference of the C&A Scheme, the Adjudicator and Arbitration Board appointments are mutually agreed by both sides. Unfortunately, agreement has not yet been reached on the nomination of an Adjudicator for the Scheme since the term of the previous Adjudicator expired on 30 June 2025. The Arbitration Board is in situ and is prepared to hear cases in the absence of an Adjudicator, if necessary. However, the preference of all parties involved is to agree on the nomination of an Adjudicator.

There has been considerable engagement between the Department of Defence, the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation and the military representative associations on the appointment. I recently wrote to my colleague Minister Chambers regarding the importance of reaching agreement in the interest of continuing constructive engagement and an effective Industrial Relations structure. I hope that the matter will be resolved to the satisfaction of all parties as soon as possible.