2026-05-07

66. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Defence the timeline for the increase of cadet pay in the Defence Forces; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33427/26]

The world is changing, and national defence is becoming more important by the day. The Government is slow-walking change, though, to the pay and conditions of our Defence Forces, particularly for our cadets. It is simply unacceptable. The question I want to ask the Minister today is about the timeline for the increase of cadet pay in the Defence Forces.

I fully agree. The world is changing. We need to expand our Defence Forces. We need to enhance our capabilities. However, we need to make sure we have the men and women in our Defence Forces to be able to operate and be able to grow in the way we need to. That means looking to retain those we have but also encouraging more and supporting our cadets as well. As the Deputy will be aware, there has been significant progress made more broadly in terms of pay and conditions for the Defence Forces personnel, particularly over the past six years. There has been a renewed focus, and rightly so, in making sure we increase pay and that the pay is reflective of the work and training that is happening. I met with representatives of RACO on 22 January 2026 and they, of course, raised the issue of cadet pay with me. It is an issue that is currently on the conciliation and arbitration agenda. I have agreed on top of that to give further consideration to the issue and the process that is ongoing. I outlined at that meeting, however, that any cost-increasing claims must be addressed within the parameters of public pay policy. I think we all know that but we want to make sure that structure is progressing and that claim is progressing as well. The Deputy will be aware as well that different pay scales apply during training, obviously, for different periods for cadets and recruits. The current pay scale applicable to cadets ranges from €26,248 to €39,026, depending on their qualification. In addition, cadets are provided with accommodation and meals free of charge for the duration of their training as part of their overall package. What is important here as well is that we are investing in where they are staying and where they are eating their meals. In the past two weeks alone, I opened quite a large new canteen facility, essentially, in the barracks in Dundalk. In the past two weeks, I also opened accommodation in Haulbowline for a significant number of new recruits. We want to make sure we are investing significantly in where they are staying, where they are being fed and where they are training and in their gym where they need to do their training. This year alone about €70 million is being spent specifically for accommodation. That is an investment in the men and women of our Defence Forces. At the same time, I appreciate that when it comes to overall pay and cadet pay, in particular, we need to make quicker progress through the conciliation and arbitration agenda. This is something on which I have committed to working with them.

Those improvements in accommodation and other physical places, such as barracks, etc., are welcome. I and Deputy Ó Laoghaire have just come from the Joint Committee on Defence and National Security, and that came up and was complimented. It simply is not enough to talk about action when it comes to pay. I accept the Minister's bona fides in terms of wanting to improve this but it is worth putting on record that cadet pay remains the lowest in the Defence Forces at just €503 per week compared to €550 for a recruit. It rises to €627 after 12 weeks. Cadets remain on this pay for the entirety of their first year while recruits can move to a weekly salary of €814 after six months. They are paid significantly less than enlisted recruits despite being in full-time training for commission leadership and bearing far greater responsibility. In fact, in their first year, cadets earn 47% less than their enlisted counterparts. This can have knock-on impacts for their pension entitlements. I know there is a process under way but we need a timeline. I accept the Minister's bona fides but we need to see real progress on this for the cadets.

I agree. I would like to see things move on. I would like to see a resolution as quickly as possible. It is obviously going through the process. Again, the current public service pay agreement to which the members of the Permanent Defence Forces are party provides for that local bargaining process. It provides for that 3% of basic pay, with the 1% to be paid from the current agreement and the balance to be addressed in any successor pay agreement. There is an opportunity beyond the current engagement to examine pay and conditions, including cadet pay, through that process. There is a number of different ways in which we can look at this. It is encouraging, not only for cadets. However, if you look at the number of applications for cadets in 2022, it was 1,297. If you fast-forward to this year, it is 2,878. We are seeing a significant increase in the number of applications, more broadly, across the Defence Forces. There were 16,500 applications last year and up to the end of March of this year alone, there have been 7,000. There is a significant increase in interest and I think it is because we are investing more. We are clear that we want to expand the Defence Forces. We want to invest in the men and women who are there but we want to invest in greater capabilities. There are more opportunities, be it in the Naval Service, the Air Corps or the Army, for people and that is reflected in the overall figures.

Certainly, we are trending away from the recruitment and retention crisis that we have seen in the Defence Forces. We are not quite there yet and still have a bit to go. In terms of cadet pay, the long-term impacts of it and why it needs to be resolved, it can become financially illogical to become a cadet. Under the single pension scheme, earnings are averaged across an entire career meaning that paying cadets the existing poverty-level wage does lasting damage to their pension entitlements. It is not as enticing an offer to young people as it could be if we get through this process as quickly, as expeditiously and as beneficially as possible for the cadets. These young cadets will have dependants in the future and an increasing amount of responsibilities, like most people, as they go through life. There is an increase in recruitment but we will have a problem with retention unless this pay and pensions issue is resolved for cadets. I urge the Minister to put every pressure on to get this resolved as soon as possible.

I stress that the claim was received by the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers. The claim is being dealt with under the conciliation and arbitration scheme for members of the Permanent Defence Forces. The Deputy will appreciate the discussions under the conciliation and arbitration scheme are confidential but I look forward to, and hope we can have, that constructive engagement and that conclusion reached as soon as possible. The Deputy is correct. There is quite a variation from €26,248 to €39,026. I would stress, however, that if you are a cadet coming in, your accommodation is paid for and your food is paid for. Obviously, for a lot of people, that would account for a significant portion of any wage that they would get on a weekly or a monthly basis. More broadly, we need to make sure we are doing everything that we can to focus on increased recruitment and retention. We have a defence sector working group, which was established to examine the representative associations' proposals. We are working with RACO and PDFORRA proposals under local bargaining. What that is doing is identifying measures to increase recruitment and retention, with a particular emphasis on the Naval Service because with the new national maritime security strategy and with the need for us to do more when it comes to maritime security, our focus on the Naval Service is important and the cadets within that. We are seeing an increase in numbers also.