Results 1-20 of 46,533 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Business of Select Committee (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: Yes.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: I thank the Deputy for his amendment and thoughtful contribution. Throughout this process, I have been engaging and we have been taking on board very carefully the comments made by members of the committee. We have had correspondence with the committee. We have amended and taken on board two substantive issues in the presentation of this Bill to the House in terms of representations that...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: Yes, that is generally the direction of travel. Others will have views on that. Where responsibility is held or allocated, there has to be accountability.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: I certainly do not, although I have studied the period-----

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: -----from the early 20th century right through. We can be well enlightened by what happened in the 1920s. We had the Army mutiny later. It was Kevin O'Higgins who laid down the essential principle that those who wear the uniform of the State serve the State. We will deal with that later in other aspects of this legislation. There are fundamental principles but, obviously, the passage of...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: If the Chair will allow me to intervene, I was supposed to make an opening statement which would have dealt comprehensively with that point. That is not how things have worked out. I do not want to-----

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: I just want to make the point. I took the Chair's willingness to try to be focused and efficient on this matter, but I had a statement on that, because it is not the case that this was somehow produced while completely ignoring the work of the committee. That is not the case.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: I am not going to, I had an-----

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: Sorry?

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: We would have written to the committee. We have letters here which indicate it. I had an opening statement that the Chair said he would prefer I did not read, and which would have explained this. We can get into propaganda and politics if we wish, but that is not the case.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: Yes, I think we should stick to them. Maybe, if my statement could be taken as read and I could circulate it to the secretariat, we could come back at another time and talk through it.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: It is up.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy does not have to take it as read if she does not want to. I was told before I came in here that I would have an opportunity to make a statement-----

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: It was cleared with the secretariat of the committee that I would make a short statement setting out the context of how we took on board the work of the committee on the pre-legislative side. Substantive correspondence went to the committee but that correspondence was not reflected in the subsequent report of the committee. In that correspondence, we signalled change in respect of some...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: We can organise that, no problem.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: Yes. I have also met the representative associations to discuss the wide range of points that were presented to the committee. I met them bilaterally and indicated the ones I was prepared to move on in advance of Committee Stage, which I did. There were two heads involved. In respect of head 25, I withdrew it and wrote to the committee to indicate same. I also informed the associations...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: With regard to Deputy Howlin's amendment, we talked about the primacy of civilians. I take it from comments that we want our Defence Forces to be apolitical. If they were not, it would have implications for the future of our democracy and the fundamentals of democracy.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: Yes. This is nothing new. The only change is the inclusion in primary legislation. This is a positive Bill. It is statutorily providing for association with ICTU, which has never happened before. It is only in the past year that that development has arisen.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: No. The association will not be spancelled regarding what it has been doing up to now, namely, representing its members. That activity will not be stymied or undermined by this legislation. An idea has been put forward that the body will not be able to advocate. I have made the position clear in amendments we have made already and also in my communication with the associations. They will...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (23 May 2024)

Micheál Martin: There is a similar principle. Committee members have referred to the association. I come back to the matter of the individual. On Deputy Stanton's point, the section deals with specified activities "while in uniform".