Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I thank him for indicating that the Government is not opposing this Bill and fully supports its intent. That is very important and the Labour Party fully supports it too.

It is also very important to note the following part of the Minister's statement:

Since the enactment of the Defence Forces (Temporary Provisions) Act 1923, the official Irish name of the Defence Forces of the State has been Óglaigh na hÉireann. As such, the Defence Forces remain the only organisation entitled to use this term.

That is why we are here tonight. I thank Senators Malcolm Byrne and O'Loughlin and Fianna Fáil colleagues for putting this Bill in front of us. As other colleagues have done, I also thank the representative bodies of the various parts of our Defence Forces, namely, RACO, PDFORRA, RDFRA, and, obviously, the Organisation of National Ex-Servicemen and Women, O.N.E., which are all doing a great job for those who have served or are currently serving.

I cannot let the opportunity pass to raise a couple of issues with the Minister. The previous time the Minister was in the House, I was in the Chair. We discussed the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. At that stage, the Minister indicated he would come before us again to discuss the findings of that report. I know he has had an opportunity to discuss it with Deputies in the Lower House. I ask that such an opportunity be offered to Members of the Upper House.

The Minister will be aware that a number of us have repeatedly spoken to him about issues surrounding our Defence Forces. Those issues continue to this day. We read the positive and hopeful news that the Cabinet is discussing offering an extra €1 billion to the Defence Forces. Will the Minister confirm discussions on that type of money are taking place Cabinet? Perhaps when he comes back, he will have some good news for our Defence Forces.

I cannot let the opportunity to raise the issue of affiliation pass. I raised it in the House the other day, and it was raised earlier by my colleague in County Kildare, Senator O'Loughlin. I ask the Minister, as Senator Craughwell has done on numerous occasions, to give the House an update on affiliation to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, by PDFORRA and RACO, should they wish to affiliate. We are hearing that pay talks have been triggered. Now is the time for the Minister to tell us he will allow PDFORRA to affiliate once and for all. I cannot see why there should be a barrier to that. The Minister said he did not see a barrier but that he had to be convinced. What is needed to convince him? That is the question many of us are asking. Affiliation is in place in almost every other European country. Now is the time to allow it in Ireland as well.

I want to bring up one other issue with the Minister. There were reports again in the media last week that another Minister had offered Army support to the Dublin Airport Authority, DAA, in a commercial capacity to help with its commercial needs.