Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the reply but, with respect to the Minister, Deputy Coveney, the fact that he has had a good personal experience of the Department of Defence is beside the point. Having looked at the terms of reference, the defence community have questions over the independence of the commission and questions as to why the Department was excluded. There are members of the commission who have clear links to the Department of Defence. If there is not buy-in from stakeholders and if there is an air or degree of suspicion around this process before it even gets started, we are nobbling ourselves before we even get going. The whole point of this was to work with the defence community and to take on board its recommendations and ideas. This has not happened in the way it should have.

One of the key requests made by RACO was that the distribution of decision-making throughout the defence organisation be looked at and assessed. How can decision-making throughout the organisation be assessed if one arm of that organisation is not included in the terms of reference? It is a glaring omission which needs to be addressed. There should be nothing to hide and nothing to fear. This is not about targeting any one individual. It is a root-and-branch review of our defence organisation with a view to improving conditions for members and improving how we run defence in this country.