Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)

The Defence (Amendment) Bill 2011 contains four main provisions, the first of which is the most important. Following on from the Seanad debate, Fianna Fáil does not agree with this first element.

The first provision seeks to allow persons who are not members of the Defence Forces to be appointed to the posts of military judge and Director of Military Prosecutions. When the Bill was going through the Seanad, Senator Denis O'Donovan spoke out against it because he felt it was introduced to suit one specific person. Creating legislation for a particular individual's circumstances is undemocratic and wrong.

This legislation needs to be examined further. I have serious reservations about an individual who has minimal court experience working as a judge in a military situation. Are there not qualified people in the Defence Forces able and willing to be a military judge? Does it not make sense for a military judge to have served time in the military and, accordingly, know the ins and outs of the military system, rather than an outsider with no internal knowledge of the military system? If this legislation is passed, and certain favouritism given to certain individuals in the armed forces, it will not only raise a moral issue in what is right or wrong but could have a constitutional element which may reflect badly on the running of the House.

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