John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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5. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the timeline for the delivery of a military air doctrine, following the publication of the Commission on the Future of the Defence Forces and the subsequent publication of the Government’s high-level implementation plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58340/22]

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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Following the publication of the Commission on the Future Defence Forces report and the subsequent publication of the Government’s high-level implementation plan, what is the timeline for the delivery of a military air doctrine?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I will give the Deputy my answer and I am not sure if it is what the Deputy is looking for but I will come back with supplementary responses and perhaps clarify if she has further questions. The military air doctrine dates back to before the commission but I will put a number of things on the record and I will try to ensure that I answer the Deputy's questions then, if I can.

The Defence Forces Capstone Doctrine was published in 31 March 2016. This Capstone Doctrine is published in support of the objectives of the White Paper on Defence and provides a common framework for all components of the Defence Forces engaged in military operations in accordance with Government’s defence policy. It is vertically nested under the White Paper on Defence 2015. It articulates the principles which underpin how the Defence Forces go about their work, while giving guidance on many of the key concepts that drive the approach to military operations in the complex operational environments of the twenty-first century.

Currently, the White Paper on Defence 2015 and the 2019 update are the principal drivers of doctrine at the policy level which may evolve as the State progresses the implementation of the Commission on the Future of the Defence Forces report. The Defence Forces also have a standardisation strategy that seeks to develop and implement, inter alia, doctrine, to achieve and maintain the most effective levels of interoperability at the national and international level in the fields of operations, materiel and administration.

Doctrine in the Air Corps is underwritten by the White Paper on Defence and the 2019 update, the Capstone Doctrine, and standardisation strategies. It is expressed through subordinate publications including Defence Forces Regulation CS.8 and the air regulation manuals. These are continually reviewed and updated and will require ongoing development in light of structural changes arising from the Commission on the Future of the Defence Forces report, and the appointment of an independent military aviation regulator, both of which are under consideration at this time.

The Air Corps is, furthermore, currently engaged in a Defence Forces project that is working to develop joint doctrine across the whole of the Defence Forces. Military air doctrine is an essential part of this process. I have given the Deputy something of a history lesson there but I can answer some of the direct questions in respect of the commission.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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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.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Yes, I hope so and the sooner the better.

The delivery of the air doctrine is not in itself a recommendation of the Commission on the Future of the Defence Forces or the high-level implementation plan. However, doctrinal development is part of the training and education command in the proposed future high-level command and control structure proposed in the Commission on the Future of the Defence Forces. It is my intention to revert to the Government on the proposed changes to the Defence Forces structures and, in particular, the reform of high-level command and control of the Defence Forces.

This includes the creation of a chief of defence, or CHOD, as supported by a vice-CHOD, with the appropriate military command and control authority of the Defence Forces. Advice has been sought from the Attorney General. Clarification of the Minister's role and the future of the Department of Defence may be required following receipt of that advice. As Minister, I favour the implementation of recommendations 1, 3, 4 and 5 in annex 1, and I presume that the Deputy also has this document, which is basically the implementation strategy for the commission's recommendations. It effectively involves a redesign of the structures of the Defence Forces, how they react with each other, and within that the delivery of a military air doctrine needs to be part of that consideration and it will be.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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I fully accept that this may not have been a specific recommendation of the Commission on the Future of Defence Forces. This, however, should have been the perfect opportunity for the development of such a doctrine. Without that necessary framework being in place, my concern is that we are not looking in the exact areas that the Air Corps need to be and wants to be looking. No matter which way one looks at this State, we may be 30% land and 70% water, but we are 100% air, and that is why a doctrine such as this is of such importance. Without that comprehensive military air doctrine being in place, I fear that there will be a lack of cohesion between each element of the Defence Forces where we have not clearly identified what the State's ask is of each arm of the Defence Forces individually, which then feed back into that larger policy of the overall Defence Forces, which the Minister has referred to in the White Paper.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I do not believe that there is a lack of clarity here but this is something which must continue to evolve. For me, growing and expanding the Air Corps is a very big part of what we will be doing over the next decade in the Defence Forces. For the obvious reasons that the Deputy has outlined, we have ten times as much sea surface as we have land surface. If one takes our sovereign territory at sea as well as land, I believe we are the fourth or fifth largest country physically in the European Union. In order to have competent and comprehensive surveillance of that sovereign territory, we need an Air Corps that is continuously resourced to do that, as indeed we need our Naval Service, as well as expanding our Army and cyber domains, and so on. The advantage of having the commission report is that we now have the resources to deliver that expansion on the scale that, I believe, many people were not expecting. I can assure the Deputy that the Air Corps will be a big part of that growth story. It is up to the Defence Forces, working with the Department of Defence, to map that out and there will be no lack of ambition from the Government in how we respond to those asks.