Soldiers unite to keep their pay
Thursday November 05 2009
SOLDIERS fighting to be excluded from further cuts in their take-home pay have put their case to the Government.
Their representative association, Pdforra, yesterday began lobbying Oireachtas members -- including Defence Minister Willie O'Dea -- to underline their belief that they have already paid their share of the financial burden. Association general secretary Gerry Rooney said his members received relatively modest incomes and paid a pension levy, income levy and health levy.
He pointed out that the Defence Forces had also undergone massive reforms in the past decade, and its spend in Europe was the smallest as a percentage of GDP.
Mr Rooney said the Defence Forces had always been an easy target for cutbacks. In the 1950s and 1960s, they had been virtually wiped out by persistent lack of funding. But now they had an organisation of which they all felt proud and it was imperative it should not be run down again.
- Tom Brady Security Editor
Irish Independent
