David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will not die in a ditch over this, but the issue I have is that an external oversight body has to in some way criticise the Department. Does it make things awkward for the members if the head of the Department is sitting on it? Would the Secretary General be naturally defensive of what his or her Department is doing? I noticed the report mentioned by the Tánaiste states that the oversight body might report to the Oireachtas as well as holding its own sessions with the Defence Forces Chief of Staff in a mix of public and closed sessions. Would a compromise be a situation where the Secretary General is not an ex officio member but could be invited by the group as needed or the Secretary General could make a request to address a meeting of the group? Otherwise, if he or she is there all the time as a member and the group wants to criticise the Department, it could lead to a conflict of interest. Should the Secretary General leave the room if the group is going to criticise the Department, as happens in many meetings? We need to tease out these awkward questions. The Tánaiste might have another rationale here. There is nothing to stop the oversight group meeting the Secretary General and reporting, debating and discussing following its internal deliberations, as an oversight body. That might be a compromise the Tánaiste might wish to consider.