Mr. Martin Ryan:

As Mr. King alluded to in his opening statement, we welcome the introduction of suspensions first and foremost. We are currently operating in a vacuum where we do not have the powers of suspension. That has led to a lot of anomalies. We are following practices where we have been asked to ignore our regulations, which should never happen in the Defence Forces. We are not following regulations as they should be, because our employers have left us in a place where we do not have modern HR practice when it comes to suspensions. When this is introduced, there is no mention of the oversight of suspensions afterwards. That is something lacking in other locations. It is something that could be introduced as a role in the external oversight body, now that it must be statutorily established in the Defence Forces. They are concentrating on HR practices anyway, so it could be a role for someone like that. I think that once something is introduced it must avoid what Mr. Ryan has alluded to, which are the protracted and elongated suspension practices that seem to happen elsewhere. If we are to learn from them, having proper oversight of the mechanism afterwards would be welcomed.