Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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The witnesses are very welcome. It seems to me that the discipline goes in one direction. Why was the Chief of Staff not told to be the Accounting Officer? There appears to me to be a bit of Teflon here.

I will continue with the previous line of questioning. As regards discipline, the fact hat people were completely silenced led to a point where there was a crisis in recruitment. People were walking away. There was even a court case that had to be taken by the president of PDFORRA. I would like to know how much that court case cost. That Defence Forces members were silenced in the context of speaking out about their pay and conditions was found to be unconstitutional. There is a very significant and dangerous gap here. We can see it also in relation to the Women of Honour and the way in which people who were retired were subjected to pretty significant abuse. That, too, will have impacted on the recruitment of women into the Defence Forces. There would be very direct accountability in having the Chief of Staff become the Accounting Officer and it strikes me as something that would be absolutely appropriate. Why was the Chief of Staff not required to be the Accounting Officer? Why was he asked rather than told he was to be the Accounting Officer?