Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As the Taoiseach is the Minister for Defence, this is specifically his responsibility. It is not really something that can be handled by his Minster of State. We have seen a lot of comment about the Minister of State, which would indicate a striking lack of confidence by key people within the Defence Forces regarding his capacity to deal with very difficult issues. I ask the Taoiseach, in his capacity as Minister for Defence, to take it upon himself to address these complaints because it is absolutely part of the destruction of the morale in the Defence Forces, which are so important to everybody in Ireland.

See this speech in context