Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In my contribution on Second Stage, I said that I have not heard any articulation of a coherent reason the Secretary General should be a member of the oversight body. The oversight body is the most important proposal in this legislation. It is the fundamental anchor of the legislation in terms of what it can do for the Defence Forces into the future. I have not been heavily involved in the discussions in relation to this matter but I was deeply involved in the establishment of the Policing Authority. I looked at external bodies that did that. The absolute consensus was that we needed an external oversight body for policing in Ireland. The notion of the Secretary General of the Department of Justice did not arise in that context. It did not present itself as appropriate. Perhaps I have lost or have not been alerted a coherent reason to include the Secretary General of the Department in this oversight view. It almost goes back to my original amendment, that it has to be pulled back to the Department all the time. I would like an independent oversight body that is not linked to the Department. Obviously, it would liaise with the Department and have a representative of the Department but the Secretary General should not be an ex officio member of it. That would be a better structure to achieve the objectives I think we all agree need to be achieved. I would like to hear the rationale from the Tánaiste. Why is it included? Is it simply a proposal from the Department that the Secretary General should be an ex officio member at the heart of this oversight of our Defence Forces?