Brendan Ryan (Labour)

This is not my brief and I am filling in for a colleague, who cannot be present. It is astonishing that amending legislation dealing with members of the Defence Forces operating abroad includes the provision in section 3(1), "with the prior approval of, and on the authority of the Government." I am not opposed to such approval but I am surprised it is necessary to provide for it in this legislation. I assumed that such decisions were provided for in primary legislation.

Am I to take it that if this phrase was not inserted, the Chief of Staff could dispatch members all over the world on his own initiative? Is this phrase necessary in the legislation or is it contained in primary legislation, such as the 1960 Act? This is not a major issue but when I read the Bill, I wondered whether the Defence Forces Chief of Staff would need to obtain Government approval before he deployed personnel if this phrase was not included. Perhaps because the Minister is an eminent lawyer, I will ask questions that I might otherwise not. He deserves congratulations because he is the only Minister whose photograph appears on the departmental website.