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

I am absolutely happy to facilitate what the Minister is proposing. We have all agreed that this is pretty straightforward legislation. Like the Minister, I pay tribute to Lieutenant-General Conor O'Boyle who has had a long and distinguished career in the Defence Forces. I was particularly impressed by his contribution at the recent symposium on defence in Farmleigh in the Phoenix Park. I might not have agreed with some of the comments he made such as the one on decentralisation, but I certainly believed his contribution overall was of enormous value.

I am sure Rear Admiral Mark Mellett will give outstanding service to the Defence Forces and welcome his appointment. Today's initiative to pave the way for his appointment is important. I acknowledge that he has been Deputy Chief of Staff since November 2013. As I understand it, he is from County Mayo and joined the Navy in 1976. His first command was on LE Orlain 1992 and he commanded LE Ciarain 1997 and the Irish naval flagship LE Eithnein 2005. Therefore, he has had a broad range of appointments in naval headquarters. Prior to his appointment as flag officer in 2010, he was officer commanding naval operations command. He was also commandant of the Naval College and associate head of the National Maritime College of Ireland. He has received citations for service in Afghanistan and Lebanon and when he was captain of LE Orla,he was honoured by becoming the Navy's first second-officer recipient of the distinguished service medal in recognition of the role played by his ship in the detention of the drug smuggling yacht Brime. He is a founding member of the Irish Maritime and Energy Resource Cluster and a member of the governing authority. In 2009 je received a PhD in political science from the National University of Ireland which I suppose was of some help to him in making his submission in Farmleigh.

I am conscious that we will not take up too much time. I am also conscious that the Minister will probably publish his White Paper before the House resumes after the recess. As I have stated, he deserves commendation for his level of engagement in preparing the White Paper, but it is important that we recognise that the Defence Forces have gone through enormous change in recent times. While the Minister has fixed their strength at 9,500, the reality is that the number is closer to 9,000 and that there is significant pressure. In a recent policy paper Fianna Fáil produced we are considering moving back towards a position in which there would be perhaps 10,500 in the Defence Forces. We are committed to re-establishing the western brigade because the decision made peremptorily by the Minister's predecessor represented a seriously retrograde step.

As an island nation, we must consider the need to develop the Naval Service. Its current strength gives rise to concern. We need to equip the Navy and have more ships and need to be in a financial position to do so. We need to consider initiatives such as having a single unified maritime authority. However, these are all issues for the future. I hope that when the House resumes in September, we will have an opportunity at an early stage to debate the White Paper which I presume will be published by then.

Deputy Denis Naughten and I have tabled a number of amendments, to which the Minister has referred. Some of them have been ruled out of order. The Minister has referred to the fact that the Schedule from the 1954 Act, repeated in the 1979 Act, recognises we can have the position of general within the Army, but there is no corresponding role of admiral within the Navy. I do not see any reason this could not be rectified. It would be a very simple matter and the Minister has accepted that it is something we should probably do. However, his saying it is a little like saying, "God, make me pure but not quite at the moment." I do not believe there would be any difficulty on any side of the House in providing for a position-----

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