Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. Initially I noted that the Questions Office had flagged to me that the Department was not too keen on answering this question, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I thank the office of the Ceann Comhairle for not disallowing this question and for allowing us to have this conversation which is purely policy-based. I have heard of the Defence Forces Capstone Doctrine and of the White Paper but I have not heard about that specific stand-alone policy around military air doctrine. This is a declaration of what the fundamental principles by which the Air Corps can and will operate and acts as a guidance for a national document. It is not a strategy document but it is a core document that then leads out into the development of a specific doctrine. We have a capability which is driven by capacity because of that lack in certain sections of an overarching doctrine, ultimately to define clearly what the State views as the role for the Air Corps, which is soon to be renamed.

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