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

I thank both Deputies. The expectation was that this piece of work would have concluded by the end of last year but this is not a straightforward piece of work. There are quite a lot of people on the commission who bring extraordinary expertise and experience and are anxious to get this right. This is essentially a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reset and recalibrate. In some ways, it will mark a new direction for the Defence Forces. I have been clear to the chair of the commission that I want the right outcome rather than being overly demanding in setting deadlines or anything like that. The report is not going to be delayed for long. I hope it is being finalised as we speak. As I said, I expect to be bringing the report to the Cabinet for noting in the first half of February. I hope we will also be debating the commission report in February. However, I also want to hold extensive consultations with the Defence Forces and their representative bodies in the context of this report once it has been published. I will be making clear to the Cabinet that we cannot simply adopt an implementation plan for the commission's report immediately. It will take a significant amount of consultation and work. Significant resource allocation may well be required. I will need to work with my colleagues and the Government to do that, and that will take some time. As part of that consultation, I would certainly like this House to be central in the context of the debate and the response to it. We are not going to have to wait much longer. The report is a couple of weeks away at most.

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