Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Acting Leader, a Chathaoirligh, to invite the Minister for Defence, Deputy Coveney into the House. It is a serious situation to read the reports in the national media over the last number of days regarding the circumstances in which some members of the Defence Forces have found themselves. It is something that has to be addressed and I understand that the Chief of Staff has said that there is not a difficulty. That may be the information that the Minister is receiving from the upper echelons of the Defence Forces but I know from members of the Defence Forces in my own community that they are suffering hardship. Those reports are correct in that considerable hardship is being suffered by members of the Defence Forces, especially those who have had to move from their barracks as a result of closures. They were not made by this Minister but he was a member of the Government that did so. It is important----