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

The Commission on the Defence Forces report in February 2020 contained 69 main recommendations and, together with sub-recommendations, brought the total to 130. The high-level action plan was published in July 2022 and accepted only 37% of those recommendations. Last November, the then Minister for Defence, Deputy Coveney, confirmed that the initial focus of that implementation management office was the implementation of 38 early actions. He told the House that significant progress had been made on the implementation of these actions, the vast majority of which were at an advanced stage. We have had a commission report, a high-level action plan, an implementation management office, an implementation oversight group, a high-level steering board and from what the Taoiseach just said, a work-in-progress implementation plan, to focus on 38 of 130 recommendations. The Government is approaching three years in office and given that it is now March, what progress has been made in the intervening months?

See this speech in context