Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

No. The associations are, generally speaking, the conduit for their members' concerns. They get communicated to the Minister of the day in respect of budgeting matters, pay and conditions or issues affecting the Defence Forces more generally. During the recent statutory inquiry, PDFORRA and RACO came in and gave us their views, which reflected the views of the members of the association. That would apply to accommodation issues, investment in the barracks, the Naval Service and so on. None of that is going to be impacted. I am trying to get an understanding of the Deputy's perspective. I take his point. He is saying that Government policy is one particular point. The intention at the time of the establishment of the association, and I was a Deputy at the time, was very much to give a voice to members in a professional way. The emergence of PDFORRA, RACO and so on has been a success story. It has been a positive.

In the world we live in, there is a balance to be struck between the views and perspectives of members of the Defence Forces, who require a system of articulation, and not allowing our Defence Forces to become a wholly political organisation that is subject to all sorts of influences that might lead to a weakening of discipline and commitment to the State, irrespective of who is in power or which type of government is in place. That is a fairly fundamental point in a democracy. I accept there is an issue around getting the balance right but we are clear that the representative associations must legally be able to represent their members on issues that affect them.