MILITARY OFFICERS ARE to call for an increase in pay for soldiers on dangerous overseas missions.

The annual conference of the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (RACO) begins today in Carlow. 

RACO elected representatives will debate 28 motions covering issues ranging from inadequate pensions and the Working Time Directive to concerns around overseas deployments as well as allowances and training.

Lieutenant Colonel Conor King, General Secretary of the group said that the Defence Forces is struggling to meet its obligations on overseas duties. 

“The situation has become so challenging that mandatory assignments, rather than voluntary deployments, are becoming the norm. This shift, coupled with the understaffing in operational units, has significantly increased the risk to those deployed, and to those left behind in these units.”

The group are looking for an increase in the Peace Support Allowance which is paid to military personnel. 

King said this has been a measure has been repeatedly asked for by RACO in recent years but has yet to be fulfilled by the Government.

“It’s a simple fact that the sacrifice that families make and that service personnel make when serving their country with the United Nations is not compensated for sufficiently by the current rates of Overseas Armed Peace Support Allowance, which range between €100-€120 per day for 24 hours away from your family over a six month period in often very dangerous conditions,” he said.

A number of motions at the conference will appeal to military leadership and the Government to review the measure. RACO believes it is one of the key issues dissuading members from volunteering to serve overseas.

“It should compensate for the fact that one of the earning partners in a relationship is out of the picture for six months, and it should compensate for the cost of additional childcare, for the requirement for one of the partner’s to give up one’s job for that six months or seven month period.

“We have a problem in the Defense Forces at the moment whereby we are struggling to find volunteers for overseas service, and that is entirely symptomatic of the fact that the risk and the sacrifice that is associated with overseas service is not adequately compensated for by the level of remuneration provided,” he added. 

King also rounded on the lack of a dedicated Minister for Defence and said the worsening staffing situation in the Defence Forces as “a symptom of government indifference towards the Defence portfolio. No longer can Defence be considered an afterthought.”

President of RACO, Lieutenant Colonel Martin Ryan says most units in the Defence Forces are severely understaffed at the leadership and management grades.

“This stark reality is leading to a lack of supervision and governance, which significantly increases risk and stress, damages morale, and leads to issues with retention. We need action now,” he said. 

A continuing bugbear for RACO and their colleagues in PDFORRA which represents non-commissioned ranks, is the failure by Government to implement the Working Time Directive. 

This is a European Union measure which records hours worked by personnel who are then paid for that work or it also ensures leaders to document a shortfall in numbers. 

King said he believes that while politicians have said that the measure will be introduced its failure is because of the Department of Defence’s reticence in recording the amount of actual hours worked by military personnel. 

RACO say that the failure to deliver these vital agreed measures over a year after they were agreed with management, and eight months after formal approval by the Tánaiste is unacceptable, and has negatively impacted the morale of all Defence Forces personnel.

The conference will also hear details of a recent RACO Climate Survey, in which 95% of Commissioned Officers polled said that they believed the Defence Forces should have a full-time Defence Minister.

That survey found that the current arrangement that sees a Minister overseeing multiple responsibilities and departments was failing the Defence Forces.

On Thursday the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Micheál Martin will address the conference.

The meeting will also hear from Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces Lieutenant General Seán Clancy tomorrow morning.

It will be Clancy’s last RACO conference before taking up his new role as Chair of the European Union Military Committee next May.