Tom Brabazon (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I have a couple of supplementary questions that arise from the information Ms Maguire has given us this morning.

Would it be possible for the Government to arrange for five or six separate approvals, as opposed to one, for example, to send up to 50 troops abroad?

I have mocked up a type of wording in a completely hypothetical way. For example, if the Constitution states that the State shall be militarily neutral and it shall not be lawful for the State to join any military alliance, alignment or force, save peacekeeping or security missions mandated by the United Nations, would the current proposal to abolish the triple lock offend such a provision of the Constitution?

I was concerned on reading through the Ward report on that part of the legislation about the point that a statutory obligation is imposed on a member of the Defence Forces to inform his or her commanding officer of charges in the civil courts in respect of certain criminal matters. The phrase, ignorance of the law does not excuse, comes to mind, but it does not mean people are not ignorant of the legal provisions. Perhaps we should impose a duty on An Garda Síochána, the DPP or the Courts Service to inform commanders in the Defence Forces that a charge has been proffered against one of their members. That would be an important step to deal with the gap that exists.