Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The terms of reference for the Commission on the Defence Forces were published some days ago. Why has the Department of Defence been excluded from the commission given the strategic role it plays and the input into and control it has on all matters relating to our defence forces? It seems like a glaring omission from the commission's terms of reference. It is a specific request from the representative associations. They are deeply frustrated and disappointed by the omission. I ask the Minister of State to relay to the Minister, Deputy Coveney, that he might reflect on the decision, review it and amend the terms of reference to include the Department.

The representative associations have put it eloquently when they describe this as a once in a generation body of work. The Commission on the Defence Forces is very welcome. It gives us the opportunity to examine all aspects of the Defence Forces, not just pay and conditions, which will form an integral part of the work, but also how we operate our Defence Forces and how we can make them more effective and resource them properly. A point made to me by the representative associations time and again is that we often get a very small, miserable defence budget and try to jam defence policy to fit the budget when it should be the other way around. We should devise a defence policy that is properly resourced by the Government to deliver on it. That has not happened to date.

Fianna Fáil has long supported our Defence Forces; we need to show that support again now. We need to amend the terms of reference to include the Department of Defence so that we can get full buy in from all stakeholders. If we do not have the representative associations on board, it will not work.