Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

May I add to that? The Garda might be in a better position than RACO's members but we are dealing with a day on which there is industrial action. It is five years since the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland published its report. Part of the difficulty we see today is related to the failure to implement some of its recommended measures. It is now 18 months since the publication of the report of the Commission on the Future of the Defence Forces. There is a very real danger that the trajectory of this report will be the same as that of the report on policing in that, five years after its publication, we could still be talking about implementing its recommendations or having a debate. The answer regarding the working time directive and all the issues raised here on resourcing the Defence Forces speaks to the need to consider this matter as an all-of-government priority. It is the only way. The current Minister was Taoiseach less than eight months ago and is now the Tánaiste and the leader of one of the major parties in government. He is on record in the Dáil and at committees as having said he is prioritising this issue, yet it is not being addressed. Therefore, the only way we will see it addressed – the representatives can comment on this, or not if it is too political – is by considering it an all-of-government priority to have a Permanent Defence Force that is actually fit for purpose, for all the reasons this committee has talked about in great detail.