Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Ó Snodaigh referred to the speech by the general secretary of PDFORRA. I am very familiar with the speech; I listened to it as it was delivered and, along with everybody else in the hall, applauded enthusiastically when it ended. It was a very good speech.

Regarding compulsory deployment, the general position has been that when the Army wants people to take part in an overseas mission it uses volunteers, as the Deputy correctly stated. In fact, it is usually over-subscribed, which was the case in the present instance in Lebanon. I am open to correction but I understand that since 1993, the Minister for Defence has been able to deploy people compulsorily if a sufficient number of volunteers do not come forward. I understand also that on occasion there have been deployments of non-volunteers under the legislation when there was a shortage in specialist areas such as cooks, drivers, engineers, technicians etc. That situation will continue.

I understand that people who enlisted pre-1993 are excused from being deployed on Chapter VII type missions. If it is the law since 1993 that only people who enlisted prior to 1993 are excused, it makes little sense now to say we will excuse everybody who enlisted up to 2006. We would be unable to deploy anybody in that case other than people who may join in the future.

See this speech in context