Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Senator Pauline O'Reilly to the Leader's chair. I had intended raising another issue but in light of Senator O'Loughlin's Commencement matter I want to focus a little bit more on that issue as it is critically important. It goes to the very heart of communication in government and how a Government, especially a coalition one, and in this case a tripartite coalition Government, communicates with people and with the citizens. The matter is of course Cathal Brugha Barracks in Rathmines. The Senator teased out the issue with the Minister for Defence who spoke at great length about it. In fairness, he gave it a lot of time. There are issues of concern here. Much of the criticism and concern in recent days is over this conflict of messaging involving the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan. I fully respect and accept this site falls within his constituency and he has every right to comment on such matters, especially in relation to Government policy on it. We then had the Minister for Defence, Deputy Coveney, before us earlier telling us there had been absolutely no decision. That clarity is welcome and I thank Senator O'Loughlin for it. However, what is really interesting is we need to be careful about the messaging and the hysteria building up around these things. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, gave great clarity earlier. The key message in all of this that he said: "The Department of Defence has secured funding from An Taoiseach, under the Housing for All implementation fund, to engage consultants to undertake a Cost Benefit Analysis and feasibility study in relation to the possible re-location of Cathal Brugha Barracks." That, in fairness, is in line with what the Minister for Transport said. How it was said and the timing of the messaging was the issue. It caused the confusion and sent a mixed message. The Acting Leader cannot answer for either of them to highlight the issue. What, therefore, am I asking for? The Minister for Defence earlier confirmed there would be a report, which he hopes to able to publish, by the commission on the future of the Defence Forces. I welcome that and know many people in the Chamber have contributed to that ongoing debate.

We must always remember the three Rs in the context of our Defence Forces. We must respect them. We must support their restructuring and their resourcing. They are three key messages for the Defence Forces. I acknowledge the enormous work and focus my group colleague, Senator Craughwell, has put into this area. He is very focused on this and has given it an enormous amount of his time, both in the House and outside it. Therefore, my final ask is that when this commission report is published next week - and the Minister confirmed to the House this morning that is what he intends - we have an early debate on it. I am aware others have asked for that; I am not asking for anything new. I would like us to ask the Leader's office to facilitate us, where practical, to have a debate on this important matter.