Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I take the point Senator Craughwell made and am not casting aspersions on that. I am just giving the reasoning for why we are so clear on that.

Some Members have raised individual barracks and so on, such as Custume Barracks in Athlone. It is a fantastic facility and I can promise we will continue investing there. It is a very strategic part of our Defence Forces infrastructure, as Senator Carrigy knows. It has very strong advocates and we hear them.

There are of course other issues in relation to HR, which we are working on. I hope to be able to make a decision on the post-1994 contracts issue quite soon. I am meeting both of the Defence Forces representative groups, namely, PDFORRA and RACO, in the next few weeks and hope we can come to a conclusion on that sooner rather than later. I gave a commitment we would do that before the end of the year. We can do that well in advance of the end of the year - within the next few weeks - to be able to give people certainty quite a long way out before the issue comes to a head, as it otherwise would, at the end of next year. We owe that to people.

Many Senators have raised the role the Defence Forces play in the context of Covid-19. As Minister for Defence, let me tell Members that what the Defence Forces have done during this period has been quite extraordinary. Whatever we have asked of them, they have delivered. This includes hotel quarantine, quietly dealing with supplementing staff in nursing homes, doing some of the most difficult transportation for patients who may have tested positive and flying samples to Berlin to get quick turnaround times from labs there. Whatever it is they have just delivered it and that is the way the Defence Forces are. It is important to recognise just how flexible they are because it does not work like that in many other countries.

I am more than aware of the recruitment and retention issues. Believe me, it is a big priority. As I said, I hope there will be a positive by-product of dealing with some of the fundamental issues and problems in the Defence Forces with respect to diversity and sexual harassment and bullying more generally.

Senator Wall asked a number of specific questions on the upper age limits, rather than the lower ones. I do not want to make any commitment on that, apart from to say I will look at it. I have a good record of looking with an open mind at issues relating to the Defence Forces to try to improve things, particularly numbers. By the way, on the independent review we are going to bring about over the next few weeks, we will include both PDFORRA and RACO in the consultation process on that, as well, of course, as the women involved, as I said earlier.

On the Curragh Camp, it is in many ways the flagship of the Defence Forces. It is the headquarters of the Army. While it is true there is still some dereliction there, we have a rolling investment programme which is quite evident when you go there. It cannot happen quickly enough as far as I am concerned but obviously I must operate within budgets. We will continue to invest, as we have committed to in the investment programme.

On Jadotville, I am somewhat limited in what I can say because there is a judicial review under way and that constrains me in making any comment on it. Once that legal issue is settled I am certainly happy to have that discussion and debate again. We must delay any ceremonies we may have planned until we get legal clarity on that issue.

On what Senator Higgins said, I was listening. I apologise, I probably should not have interrupted her in relation to battle groups. The term, "battle group", is a very unfortunate name for groups that are effectively there to ensure countries can train together and work on interoperability. The purpose is to ensure that if we must send an emergency mission somewhere that involves more than one country, however comprehensive or challenging that may be, our soldiers can go and work shoulder to shoulder alongside others with whom they have been training. This is a good thing, not a slippage or a bad thing. I hate the name "battle groups" because these are essentially crisis intervention groups and this is very much consistent with peacekeeping, peace enforcement, post-conflict management and so on, which is what Ireland brings to many of these missions. In relation to the safeguards around the triple lock, which I assume is what the Senator was talking about, and on ensuring there is a UN mandate and so on to send Irish troops abroad, if we needed a triple lock and a UN mandate to send troops on a humanitarian mission we could not have sent a team to Kabul. Within 48 hours we made a decision because we managed to get the partnership and co-operation we needed with the French to be able to get a team in there quickly, to get people out quickly and get everybody back out within 48 hours.