Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

I called for the involvement of the Defence Forces before the Minister was even aware that they should be out there. I compliment them on what they achieved when they were used. However, we were well into the big freeze before they were used, and people suffered as a result. When he was asked on RTE about the involvement of the Defence Forces following my call for this to take place, the Minister's response was totally inadequate. He said that we were not out there because we were not asked. That surely was not an adequate response when we were in the middle of a major emergency crisis in this country.

One of the principal roles of the Defence Forces is to aid the civil power and to ensure that essential services are maintained at all times.

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