Members of the Defence Forces staff representative association PDforra are being victimised and marginalised by their superiors because of their work with the organisation, it was claimed last night.
PDforra general secretary Gerry Rooney said he had previously believed that the representation of soldiers by his association had been accepted. However, he had recently learned that PDforra representatives were being marginalised in a "totally unacceptable" manner simply because of their work.
He was speaking at the opening session in Tralee, Co Kerry, of PDforra's annual three-day conference.
He said the organisation has sought to establish a mechanism in which claims of victimisation would first be addressed between the Department of Defence and PDforra, rather than involving a complainant's barrack or unit commanders.
"Where no agreement can be reached between the parties on an issue, it should be referred to an independent third party for adjudication," he said.
This was in line with Irish industry's best practice approach to resolving issues around victimisation. However, he said PDforra's efforts on the matter to date had been met with resistance from the Defence Forces and Department of Defence.
"I am personally astounded at this failure to reach agreement because I believe it to be eminently reasonable to have such agree procedures."
He called on Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea to address the issue of its individual representatives being victimised and marginalised in their work as soldiers.
"Be in no doubt that PDforra will be taking claims before the courts in the matter of victimisation. We will not abandon our elected representatives on such an important matter."
PDforra deputy general secretary Simon Devereux said the Department of Finance was ignoring the association's claims on pay and allowances because it knew members of the Defence Force's could not resort to industrial action in such disputes.
He said three recent claims for enhanced allowances for members of the Army and Naval Service were successfully taken to adjudication after the Department of Finance "failed to deliver on very reasonable applications".