Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I congratulate the Minister and his staff on the passage of this Bill through the House. I thank the Minister for his readiness to accept amendments on Committee Stage. Unfortunately, I could not attend during Committee Stage, for which I apologise, but note that some of our amendments were accepted, particularly those to ensure military judges would have to be accepted through the Cabinet. This was a significant advance.

The Minister stated in his reply on Second Stage that this legislation had the perusal of the Human Rights Commission, which is very welcome. I congratulate him and his Department on this because it is important that where we introduce modernising legislation on the operation of the court martial system in the Defence Forces, the Human Rights Commission have an oversight function. It is important that it operate to the very highest standards of human rights. It is worth stating, at the conclusion of our consideration of this legislation, that it has the very significant support of the representative organisations within the Defence Forces. It has been greatly helped by the process of consultation.