Members of the Defence Forces have warned they will not allow the Government to silence them with new legislation.
Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Micheál Martin will speak at the Permanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association annual conference in Cavan today.
The Defence (Amendment) Bill proposes that members of the military cannot make public comments regarding Government policy without prior authorisation.
Meanwhile yesterday, the High Court found orders to prevent military protests back in 2018 were unconstitutional.
PDFORRA spokesperson Mark Keane said they need to be allowed to voice the concerns of their members.
“A lot of our members feel we’re going to be silenced,” he said.
“That we will not be able to represent our members by virtue of not being able to speak out, by virtue of not being able to highlight false constraints that we see in Government policy which will affect our members and their families.”
Irish Defence Forces Army soldiers training on a snow covered Curragh Plains. Photographer: Eamonn Farrell / RollingNews.iePDFORRA will also raise concerns that many members of the Defence Forces are crossing the border to get the appropriate medical treatment.
The representative association has recently expanded a scheme which allows injured troops to access private health care in Northern Ireland.
Mr Keane believes it is the Government who should be paying for this.
“Our members [need] to get back to work, to get back to duty so they can fulfil their contractual obligations,” he said.
“It’s something that has proven very successful but, unfortunately, this was due to a failure of Government policy where they failed to address the ongoing lack of investment in medical facilities for members of the Defence Forces.”
In 2022, the Government announced the defence budget would rise from €1 billion annually to €1.5 billion a year by 2028.
Main image: Shoulder patch of a soldier from the Irish Army.
