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

Jesus, solicitors will have good craic with the wording "making himself or herself identifiable" if somebody is in the scenario I mentioned, that is, in a school. If somebody gets up to speak on behalf of the school and is introduced as a member of the Defence Forces, is he or she making himself or herself identifiable? There are principles that everybody accepts and there are parts of this section that they accept. Nobody has any question about the wording "canvass on behalf of, or collect contributions for, any political organisation or society". That refers to what I believe most would interpret as "political activity". I am referring to something specific to the party-political process. The problem is that everything is political beyond that. Everything that affects people's lives boils down to Government policy at one point or another, so we have to be clear in saying we are not prohibiting members of the Defence Forces from engaging constructively on matters that affect their own lives, families or communities and that clearly do not infringe on their ability to serve within the Defence Forces.

The Tánaiste has not answered the specific question on the judgment that has been cited.