Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have the height of respect for the current and previous Chiefs of Staff and Secretaries General of the Department. Nonetheless, I put it to the Minister that it indicates a weakness in the process he applied that there was no consultation or formal study of the personnel, intelligence, operational, logistical and deployment implications for the Department and the brigades and that no consultation took place with the brigade commanders. I accept the Minister's point that with a force of just 9,500, a three brigade structure is not ideal, but it would not have resulted in any reduction in operational outputs in the training or deployment capacity of the Defence Forces. However, real problems have emerged as a result of the decision the Minister took, a decision he took unilaterally in advance of the Green Paper and White Paper process. It appears that he took the decision without either he or the then Chief of Staff having any engagement with the relevant commanders.

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