PDForra — the organisation which represents 8,200 enlisted men in the Army, Naval Service, and Air Corps — estimate rank and file members spend nearly €3m a year on dry-cleaning, shoe polish, and other sundries necessary for their work.

PDForra is still awaiting a decision on a claim it lodged with the Revenue Commissioners in December 2014 to have the expenses legitimately recognised, estimating that each serviceman has to pay out €300 a year on dry-cleaning.

Under Defence Forces regulations, it is an offence to turn out on parade in a dirty uniform, a misdemeanor that can lead to a caution or even a fine.

PDForra said its members are so conscious of this they will even dry-clean their uniforms after practice parades. They could participate in three of these before any major event.

This year, they are likely be involved in around 42 major parades, on top of participating in a number of smaller local events.

Every day this year, members of the Defence Forces will provide a colour party to raise the national flag outside the GPO in Dublin. In addition, around 3,500 of them are expected to parade through the capital on Easter Sunday.

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Boot polish costs about €3 a tin and is likely to only last a couple of weeks. Personnel also have to pay out of their own pockets to mount medals on a special bar which they attach to their uniforms. This costs about €50 a time and some can have up to 13 medals.

Nurses, gardaí and prison officers get allowances to cover cleaning uniforms etc.

PDForra deputy general secretary Gerard Guinan said military personnel in a number of other countries get the allowances.

“You can’t put a uniform in a washing machine, it just doesn’t work,” he said. “It has to be dry-cleaned. It’s ironic that 100 years on members of the Defence Forces have to pay for the upkeep of their uniforms just like the Irish Citizen Army and Irish Volunteers did. Nothing has moved on.”

Mr Guinan said it is frustrating for his members that it is taking so long to get a decision when they see other personnel within the public and private sectors, with similar responsibilities to maintain their uniforms, attaining recognition in the form of a flat rate expense.

The Revenue Commissioners said it has “sought clarification on a number of issues” relating to the claim and was involved in ongoing examination of the categories of duty carried out and “the types of expenses wholly, necessarily and exclusively incurred”.

David Stanton, outgoing chairman of the Oireachtas Commmittee on Defence, said he would look into it after the election.

Mr Stanton, who served as an officer in the Reserve Defence Forces for several years, said he would speak with the Minister for Finance about adopting legislation to have such expenses recognised by the Revenue Commissioners. He also said he would look into it with the Department of Defence.

“It would be reasonable to expect that legitimate expenses would be reimbursed as is the case in most jobs,” Mr Stanton said.

For regular updates on news and features (as well as twitter action action as it may have happened 100 years ago) to mark the revolutionary period follow @theirishrev HERE