Last February I received a request for a meeting from the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (RACO) to discuss the benchmarking process and other unspecified matters. My office replied to this request on 28 February indicating that benchmarking was being addressed at the appropriate forum and that discussions on other matters coming within RACO's remit should be pursued within the conciliation and arbitration structures that had been set up precisely for this purpose. In March and April, I received further requests for a meeting which indicated that an agenda was being prepared by the association. However, I have not yet received any indication of the issues they wish to discuss with me.
Representation was introduced in the Defence Forces in 1990 to provide members of the Defence Forces with an input into matters of concern to them. Under the representation arrangements, a range of fora are available to the associations, ranging from forum meetings with the military authorities to the conciliation and arbitration scheme with a council and various sub-committees which meet on a regular basis. The representative associations and the conciliation and arbitration branch also have ongoing contact with each other by means of written correspondence and phone communication.
I am convinced that the system of representation, with its conciliation and arbitration scheme, provides the association with an adequate platform for the presentation of its views to my Department and to the military authorities. I am satisfied that all issues currently on hand are appropriate to, and can be dealt with, through these structures.