Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Questions in the Chamber in this instance are useful, but the debate is truncated and we do not get an opportunity to discuss any single project in detail. It would not suffice in terms of the type of reporting I am requesting and the facilitation of debate not just between myself and the Minister, but with other Deputies and members of the defence and foreign affairs committee. I appreciate that there are military and civil aspects to all of the actions and that there are many matters to consider. However, I believe defence matters were too little considered by the committee in the last Dáil and Deputy Brendan Smith is anxious to make up for that in the current Dáil. I hope that can be done. Other Departments, such as the Department of Health and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, update the relevant Oireachtas committee regularly. The Department of Children and Youth Affairs, for example, liaises with An Garda Síochána and other stakeholders in the community and it manages to update the relevant committee regularly on its work. The Department of Defence could probably do the same with regard to the 88 separate actions. It would not pose a huge difficulty. I ask the Minister to explore doing it twice yearly and to do so two to three weeks in advance of a committee meeting so we can have a debate on it, rather than in the Chamber where the debate is too truncated.

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