Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will make the link because during the Minister of State's tenure, we are seeing the implosion and destruction of our Defence Forces - the Army, the Naval Service and the Air Corps. Does the Minister of State not see the link? Can he not connect the dots? The exodus of personnel means that administration, organisation, capacity and capability are all being fatally undermined. We now see the electoral system being undermined because of the ongoing difficulty regarding the effective strength of our Defence Forces. If the Minister of State cannot create the link, he is just defending his mandarins and Department. The Department was created very easily. There are more layers within its structures with more assistant secretaries general and more appointments but when we see the exodus from our Defence Forces, the Minister of State should create the link in terms of the implosion, destruction and demoralisation that are there. They are the net effects, which are now creeping into our democratic system. People who have such morale could not even vote on the Minister of State's watch.

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