Mary Henry (Independent)

I welcome the Minister to the House and welcome the speed with which the Government has brought forward this Bill. We were all alarmed at Dr. Eileen Doyle's report. We are glad it has been dealt with so rapidly and that she is monitoring the situation. We have great respect for and pride in our Defence Forces and it was sad to see such a large proportion felt they were subjected to bullying and harassment, sexual or otherwise. It is good to see Government has taken such quick action on the issue.

The definition of military operations was expanded in the Dáil, but I am not in a position to say whether it is satisfactory. Therefore, I take great interest in what members who have served in the Defence Forces say. We must recognise that there is a vast change in what we expect our military personnel to do. The role of being in charge of State security was clearly laid out, but now the forces have a major role in human security. We have congratulated our forces on what they did, and are doing, in Liberia and I spoke in the House to welcome the fact that they were going. I was particularly glad they were going out to work with an African contingent from Nigeria. It was something to go to Liberia to try to deal with an army of children, especially since there are serious problems there involving voodoo. I have been to West Africa and know that large numbers of the population believe what they are told by witch doctors, such as, for example, that bullets will pass through them. We can imagine the perils faced by our forces and how matters might have worked out when faced with a hail of bullets going into mobs of children. I congratulate the forces on the work they have done in Liberia.

I was very taken by a report I read some time ago by Mary Kaldor, a professor of global governance in the London School of Economics. She was the convenor of a study group on European security capabilities. The group examined human security in particular and commented that this was what armies were increasingly being called upon to protect rather than state security. It pointed out how much more difficult this could be.

We frequently hear about the Congo and its difficulties and the difficulty of dealing with child soldiers. Professor Kaldor refers in her report to the emergency in Ituri, where various militias, including thousands of young children, were involved in the laying waste of towns, looting, raping, carrying out massacres and the uprooting of tens of thousands of people. The UN-backed mission that went there did not stay for long and its follow-up was slow. The mission succeeded in stopping massacres and created security on the ground. However, we know the problem is recurrent in such places. Therefore, we must have trained troops that can go into such areas and deal with the problems.

We must recognise the major change in the types of missions on which our troops are sent abroad. I was sorry to hear PDFORRA report on radio this morning from its meeting in Donegal that some of those sent abroad were not volunteers, because I always thought we only sent volunteers. Some people who have specific training that is urgently needed in some areas are sent out on further unsought tours of duty. Perhaps the Minister will address that matter on the conclusion of this debate. I congratulate the Minister on bringing forward this legislation so rapidly.