Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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I must have miscounted Deputy Berry's questions. I believed there were 102, not 96. I do not intend to go back over questions that have already been asked. I thank Deputy Berry for his generosity in that regard. I very much echo his concerns about the Defence Forces. The numbers are deeply concerning. The Minister might address the Civil Defence and the funding of €4 million that is being provided. I note there was under-expenditure in 2020 and I note also, with some concern, that there has been a significant drop in the number participating in courses, seminars and exercises. I am concerned for constituencies like mine, which rely heavily on the Defence Forces and Civil Defence when it comes to issues such as flooding. They have played a significant role in this area in recent years.

I want to touch on subheads A10 and A17, which concern military transport and Defence Forces logistics and travel, respectively. In one case there is a decrease, and in the other there is a significant increase. Can the Minister go into some detail on how the climate Bill will affect these two subheads of the Estimates? What is the impact of the reorganisation that took place several years ago on the increasing travel demands being placed on members of the Defence Forces?

I would like to move on to Defence Forces communication and IT.

A quick glance over the documentation provided today would say to me this is an area that is looking at a significant decrease, in fact one that is very closely behind the payments being allocated to relatives of those in the War of Independence. It is one of the highest levels of decrease. I have to put it to the Minister that in many ways this is not reflective of a modern defence force. We should be seeing increases in spending on technology as the work undertaken by the Defence Forces changes and modernises in line with the rest of society.