Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

The Green Paper will be published and any group or individual across civil society, including those in schools and third level colleges, will be free to engage in a process to hold debates, make proposals and feed into the thinking in the finalisation of the White Paper. The intention is to use it to increase public knowledge of the Defence Forces and the role they play. Their participation in the Queen's visit brought them tothe attention of the public to a greater extent than usual. They were more visible. On previous occasions there might have been a one-day event, but on this occasion there was a series of events in which the Defence Forces were involved which heightened public awareness of them.

It is important that the general public are aware not only of the worthwhile job done on major UN missions such as the one to Lebanon or the smaller one mentioned earlier but also of the assistance the Defence Forces provide for the civil power, not just in dealing with vans transporting cash but also in dealing with emergencies such as flooding, fires and other difficulties caused by climatic conditions. This is a real opportunity for people to learn more than they may already know about the Defence Forces, as well as contribute to a discussion on where we go in the following decade.

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