Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Neither am I going to accept the amendment. I indicated to the Deputy I would be introducing the most comprehensive legislation in terms of command and control within the Defence Forces. In the period between Committee and Report Stages, I have already approved a paper that my officials had done some work on in respect of CHOD, in respect of the recommendation the commission came forward with. While I appreciate the debate the amendment provokes, the amendment itself, even from the paper I have approved, in no way could capture the complexity involved here as well as the necessity for a detailed debate on this, including pre-legislative scrutiny, for example, of any Bill I might bring forward and really having genuine toing and froing on the primacy of the elected democratic government of the day and the civilian wing over the military.

This has been a cornerstone of our democracy since the foundation of the State. That needs teasing out in terms of how we do the accountability piece and how we do the division of responsibilities a chief of the Defence Forces in their entirety would have. There is also the issue of the heads of various services and what rank and level they are at, for example, in the Naval Service and the Air Corps. There are lots of issues - believe me - which I look forward to debating with the Deputy in the context of that Bill. We hope to be able to bring it to the Government - they are looking blankly at me regarding the timeline - or I would like to think I could go to Government before the summer recess and that maybe in the autumn we could have this Bill before the House. That is my ambition because it is a key piece. I do not accept and I do not believe the current structures are adequate at all. I believe the present situation is not optimal by any yardstick.

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