Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Bill, the Minister and his officials to the House. I extend to my neighbour from across the border in Limerick my warmest congratulations on his appointment as Minister for Defence. He has been compared to many people but I would like to make my own comparison. He has a reputation of being a Stakhanovite in that he has worked extremely hard over the years and his appointment is no more than is due to him.

While I am making a geographical reference, I wish to commend to the Minister's care the Sarsfield's Rock monument in east Limerick, which I have visited a couple of times in the past ten years. Obviously it is a matter for the Minister and for Limerick County Council, but I feel the Army in Limerick should perhaps take some interest in it. Perhaps there should be an annual ceremony. It is not so big and ambitious a monument that it would be too difficult to maintain. It is situated in a very evocative place.

I also pay tribute to the Minister's predecessor, Deputy Michael Smith, who did a very good job as Minister for Defence over the past six years in terms of re-equipping the Army, providing leadership and raising the status of the Defence Forces. At the time of President Bush's visit to Shannon, I was almost taken aback, as were many people, by the stream of armoured vehicles photographed on the roads in the region. We did not realise how much equipment was in existence.

The defence portfolio is an important one. The Defence Forces comprise a very important institution of the State. They serve us at home and abroad and make a valuable contribution to international peacekeeping. The Leader of the House, Senator O'Rourke, took us back 14 years to when her brother, the late Brian Lenihan, was Minister for Defence. There had been a fair degree of dissatisfaction in the Defence Forces. They are subject to hierarchical discipline but at the same time their members wanted the right to have their voice heard in terms of conditions of employment. The Leader was correct to point out the important contribution the then Minister made, including the establishment of the representative associations. I have been at one or two of their conferences and, by and large, admire the spirit with which they go about their work. The late John Lucey was mentioned and I subscribe to the praise for his role.

I visited the military college recently and got the impression that the Defence Forces are highly motivated and doing an important and valuable job on behalf of us all. This Bill, which establishes an ombudsman for the Defence Forces, represents a very logical step in enabling one to make complaints. In the last analysis, rather than just having people policing or judging themselves, the Bill provides for an independent office to which an appeal in last resort can be made. This is the way the Office of the Ombudsman for general purposes works. It is really only when all other recourses are exhausted that a case goes to the Ombudsman. This is very progressive legislation and it tackles the problem of how one brings an institution, such as an army, which is one of the oldest institutions in the world, into line with the spirit of the modern age in which people have the right to participate in and, to a degree, co-determine what happens to them and have a legitimate voice without being demoted.

A topic has been in the news recently because of the conference taking place regarding people going abroad and the degree to which this is voluntary, given that some may have been pressed to do so somewhat against their will. Anyone joining the Army these days would have reason to expect that service abroad would be part of what would normally be expected of him or her. Obviously, soldiers would have the right to opt out or not to volunteer. However, there are responsibilities to be considered. It may be that some places are much less attractive in physical terms than others but I would like to believe that most members of the Army would be prepared to do a stint wherever they are called to make a contribution unless there were very particular circumstances preventing them from doing so. I accept that the ombudsman has quite a difficult task. A previous speaker made the point that if one is a sergeant-major barking out orders on the parade ground and somebody is told to straighten up, then obviously this is not necessarily to be construed as bullying or harassment unless it is way over the top. Discipline is required in a military situation and so judgment, tact and mutual forbearance are needed to distinguish between normal discipline and abnormal bullying and harassment.

I gather the Minister may be attending one of the Army conferences tomorrow. I am sure that, as well as being in charge, under the President of course, he will act as a good advocate at the Cabinet table in terms of what is needed for the development of the Defence Forces. We take pride in our Defence Forces and take an interest in what they are doing. We also take up whatever opportunities are offered to visit barracks or occasionally to visit them when serving abroad. In 2000, along with the Taoiseach, I was privileged to visit the Rangers in East Timor. They did an exceptionally fine job in a tricky, volatile and vulnerable situation by stabilising the jungle frontier between East and West Timor. In that way, East Timor was allowed to develop without further wrecking or destabilisation. The Rangers did a very fine job in that respect. Nowadays the facilities, including living conditions, are getting much better.

The Bill represents a progressive reform. I wish the Minister well and I assure him of the strong support he will have in this House.