John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support the Tánaiste's position. I remember as a young man sitting in the Gallery when the late Brian Lenihan senior, a former Minister for Defence, introduced the legislation that allowed for PDFORRA and the representative piece. Many of the same arguments were being made then about allowing the Army a representative voice on general human resource issues, conciliation issues and any matters that could be proscribed by the Minister for Defence. The arguments then were similar. The thought struck me that if any of the Opposition spokespeople were in the Tánaiste's position, they would be making exactly the same defence of the existing system in the context of protecting the State.

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