Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I can see sense in what is being proposed. The amendment has been ruled out of order by the Ceann Comhairle because of the potential cost involved and that is a ruling with which I cannot argue. To be honest, I am not sure there would be any cost implication any time soon, but that is the judgment of the Ceann Comhairle's office. We had a long discussion before coming into the House this morning on whether we should accept the amendment. The only way I could do so is by introducing an amendment myself. We have decided not to do this on the basis that we need a complete review of the legislation.

There is a need for completeness in the ranking columns included in the legislation. Ireland is, however, unlikely to have a general any time soon. If one looks at the Israeli army, for example, one will see that it has a lieutenant-general, despite its size, scale and financial muscle. As I said, Ireland is unlikely to have a general or an admiral in the near future, although, that said, if we include the rank of general in the legislation, we should also include the rank of admiral. In fact, the advice we received was that we should perhaps remove the rank of general, but that would be seen by some as insulting, understandably so. If we look back in history, we had, for example, General Michael Collins. Theredore, the rank of general should remain in the legislation. In the future we should upgrade the naval ranks to also include the rank of admiral. Realistically, we will have time to change the position and there is no immediacy to the issue. We should use the time to review the Defence Acts generally and look to modernise them in a way that would be consistent with the White Paper. Certainly, if I am there when it is being done, we will include the rank of admiral to match the rank of general, even though we are not using either and are very unlikely to do so any time soon. Nonetheless, for completeness and balance, it should be done.

The problem in doing so now would be that we would have to send the legislation back to the Seanad. We could do this and if it was a really important issue and important to do it now from a timing perspective, I would do so. However, I am anxious to have this legislation completed before the House breaks in order that in September we can have a smooth transition. In the meantime, we are already looking at defence legislation generally in terms of its consistency with the White Paper and what we are planning to do in the future. In the context of the review, this is certainly a change I would be very open to making. It is a sensible suggestion from Deputy Denis Naughten, but it is not necessary to do it now. If Deputies could work with me on it, that would be helpful.

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