Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

No, but as I read what the Minister is proposing, somebody on behalf of a representative body is entitled to comment on the proper subject matter of the things that that representative association gets involved in, such as service conditions, accommodation, pensions, you name it. If they do so in public, the consequences of this amendment that we are now proposing, is that an individual member of the Defence Forces cannot write a letter to the newspaper saying "I disagree with what RACO, or PDFORRA, is saying on my behalf. I fundamentally disagree with it." The same applies where somebody in PDFORRA might say that what RACO is saying is something that they disagree with fundamentally. To say to them that they can go to an annual general meeting and express their views there is not very much use to them if they have to sit quietly while the public is told that a representative organisation has taken a position which is different from that of a significant number of members of the Defence Forces. That is the point I am making.