Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I agree that the 90th anniversary commemoration was extremely successful. I appreciate the Deputy's kind remarks about the military, which I will communicate to the Chief of Staff.

It is not that we are ashamed of our military; we are very proud of them. My point to Deputy O'Shea is that it will be a wide-ranging commemoration, which will commemorate far more than the fact we have an established, well respected standing Army which has done tremendous work abroad. However, as well as commemorating matters such as our cultural, economic and social progress, we will also take the opportunity to showcase our military.

See this speech in context