Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I know the number is increasing, but the core point is that it has been increasing only partially. I believe there is scope in that regard; nonetheless there have to be checks and balances on this.

Amendment No. 2 is extremely reasonable. It states that where there has been a delegation of operational control under the Act, that delegation - and this seeks to account for, as the Minister says, when this happens in the summer or over Christmas - should not exceed a period of more than eight months without a proper motion having come to both Houses of the Oireachtas and without there having been an opportunity for proper scrutiny. Therefore, if a decision needs to be made in August, I think it would be reasonable that by the following January, February or March, before we continue with the secondment of Irish troops to another force commander, there would be a motion whereby the Minister would have such an opportunity. The Minister talked about accounting afterwards but, of course, lives are at stake in these issues and the consequences are very significant. It is a matter of coming before the Houses and accounting for what is happening. The core thing is that when authority is transferred to another force commander or to another force - any force - there are different reasons.

I will not go back to section 3. As the House will be aware, I have three amendments in respect of section 3 that I will move later. There are core elements of what the purposes within that would be. Take, for example, a force commander of a country that has had a NATO mandate or has a mandate in terms of the military protection of interests, which many countries have, versus the military protection of principles, versus the protection of rights, versus the humanitarian and human rights mandate. Those are the mandates of Irish military actors. That is why we are so proud of them. It is one of the reasons they are so effective. I am just saying there is something to be lost here if we make it too wide or too ambiguous as to what might happen and what kinds of things the Irish military might do. As a Legislature, we have a responsibility to be confident, if we are having force command transferred, that the purposes for which it is being transferred are consistent with Ireland's policy and very proud record, which outlives and predates any one government and will outlive the next government. I refer to the mandate we have had and the tradition Ireland has had of being a very strong peacebuilder and being regarded as a good faith actor and as not engaging in military action out of self-interest or for the purposes of simple power alignment. That is a really strong record Ireland has, and it is really important we maintain it. This amendment would give the Minister, or any Minister who may come after him, the opportunity to come before the Houses of the Oireachtas and explain the decisions he has made, why there has been delegation, what its purpose is and why it is good or necessary. Then we can continue on that basis. Again, the amendment addresses exactly those issues of timely action the Minister spoke about.