The allowance referenced arises from a recommendation made by an Adjudicator under the Conciliation and Arbitration (C&A) Scheme on 27 September 2010 concerning the Army Ranger Wing allowance and proposed increases backdated to June 2006. The Deputy will be aware that the C&A Scheme operates, in line with the Irish model of industrial relations, as a voluntary industrial relations mechanism. Recommendations or findings arising under the Scheme do not constitute enforceable pay entitlements unless and until they are accepted and sanctioned by the appropriate Ministers in accordance with public-service pay legislation and budgetary processes.
Implementation of the 2010 recommendation was not possible at the time due to the provisions of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) legislation, which restricted the payment of pay increases and retrospective adjustments across the public service. Following the conclusion of the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018–2020, an offer was made through the established industrial relations framework to implement a number of outstanding adjudications, including the Army Ranger Wing allowance adjudication, on a non-retrospective basis with effect from 1 October 2018. This offer was accepted by PDFORRA in September 2019.
In those circumstances, there is no sanctioned entitlement to the payment of Army Ranger Wing allowance arrears for the period 2006 to 2018. In the absence of such sanction, no entitlement to “wages” within the meaning of the Payment of Wages Act 1991 arises, and there is therefore no unlawful withholding or deduction of pay.
More recently, the parties including PDFORRA agreed to refer the matter of the ARW Allowance to the Defence sector Arbitration Board who recommended in 2023 that the ARW allowance be increased by €200 per month, with an additional 5% increase, with effect from 1 October 2021. This recommendation was sanctioned by the Minister for Defence at the time and the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform in July 2023. The Department’s Finance Branch was instructed to implement the increase and the associated back pay to 1 October 2021, and these payments have been processed.
Matters relating to pay and allowances in the Defence Forces are progressed through the voluntary industrial relations machinery of the C&A Scheme, and any outcomes are subject to Government approval, affordability and compliance with public-service pay policy.
