Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste said that I am here a while, and I recognise a debating tactic when I see one. He created a straw man so he could knock it down. It is not proper for the Tánaiste to say that I suggested I want to erode an apolitical public service. Nobody suggested that. I am saying that an evolution is happening. I have tabled amendments over the years to allow for association with ICTU, for example,which was regarded as unthinkable. Evolutions happens. There are defence forces in the European Union that have the right to a limited form of strike, for example. These are matters we should at least be able to debate without being accused of undermining the building blocks of our society. I just make that point.

The particular section we are talking about relates to prohibited activities of associations. There is a difference between my amendment and Deputy Carthy's amendment. His amendment seeks to delete solely "or matter of Government policy" whereas mine also intends to delete the reference to "a political matter". It seems to me that any Government policy is, by definition, a political matter in any event. They are one and the same.

From what he said, it seems the Tánaiste is open to a practical solution that will meet the principle of what we are suggesting and be able to reassure the representative associations, which have spoken to us at length about what they believe will best serve their interests by sustaining recruitment, morale and the impetus that the Tánaiste is trying to drive in terms of building a modern and fit-for-purpose Defence Forces and give them a legislative framework to reflect that. I am heartened by his response to my first amendment. He is still thinking about how to reflect in primary law what we are doing here. We are not talking about any code of conduct that can be changed overnight by his signature but about the law of the land. How can we best reflect apolitical Defence Forces, while allowing individual citizens who happen to be members of the Defence Forces to exercise normal rights, albeit in a more restricted way than most citizens because they are in a different category when they wear the uniform? I am seeking an approach that would not be perceived as restrictive in the way that this proposal is seen - and we can tell the Tánaiste this honestly - as overly restrictive by those people we want to support and encourage, and for whom we want to provide a legislative framework in which they can thrive.