Senator Gerard Craughwell- speech from 6 Jul 2021

Go raibh maith agat, Cathaoirleach. Cathaoirleach, at the start, at the outset, I want to place on record my gratitude to members of the Royal British Legion in Balamone and in Coleraine for their support for the organisation of National Ex-Servicemen in this island where they raised over £1,000 sterling in a walk across the causeway. Speaking of Defence Force matters, again this morning I'm aware of the fact that the post-94 contractees are still not aware of the future fate that they have with respect to being allowed to serve past the age of 50. They were promised this would come through at the end of May, it hasn't come through yet. Furthermore, there was outrage from former colleagues in the Defence Forces at the lack of participation at the recent Defence Committee meeting where we heard from RACO. There was, as far as I recall, only two political parties and two independents represented at that and that simply is not good enough, it sends out a very poor message. Furthermore, the Department of Education has done away with abatement for a period to attract retired teachers back into the system, but a former member of the Defence Forces who is a teacher is not going to be able to avail of the waiver on abatement. And I would love if the Deputy Leader could check out what is so different about a former member of the Defence Forces that they are not allowed to benefit from this when former teachers are. I think it's an outrage and it once again shows a disregard for members of the Defence Forces.