Mr. Conor King:

I cannot add anything to what Mr. Guinan said. He is correct. All of the points have been covered already and covered well. The one thing I will say is that the last time we appeared, and we were lucky enough to come before the committee in October 2023, one of the committee members - I remember who but I will not say the name - was moved to speak about oversight and the oversight function of the committee itself. This would be the single most effective and beneficial oversight function the Oireachtas committee could enable to ensure that we are not written out of existence through primary legislation, that our members are not looking over their shoulders and wondering whether their rights and the benefits of membership will be stripped away, and that when our members are engaging in civil society they will not be worried that they are breaking the law. Oversight from the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence in this regard, to bring in the reasonable amendments we have sought, would go a massive way to assuring and reassuring our members that the system is fair and that the Defence Forces is a good place where they can do their business and where they can work. I appeal to the committee's expertise, and to its powers as an oversight body and as an Oireachtas committee, to assist in any way it can to ensure the difficult, challenging and unreasonable provisions in the general scheme of the defence (amendment) Bill 2023 are amended.