Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The point is, when you transfer command, there is a very significant consequence. That is why it is very important to know who you are transferring command to, what their criteria will be and what the means and mechanisms as to how you relate to them will be. Any force is simply too wide in this regard.

I note the Minister's point on time constraints. I know we have limited time for this debate so I will not extend as far as I might on the issue of the Mediterranean. Amendment No. 2, however, this seeks to address the fact there may be emergency circumstances but it also puts some safeguards in place, because there is currently quite a lot of ministerial discretion on the delegation of operational control to any force. Again, as I said, it is not even as constrained as it is under the international organisation definition which is in the original Defence (Amendment) Act 2006. This is a much wider framing in this section.