Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----the positivity of all of that is in the context of diversity. Senator Craughwell put it very eloquently when he spoke of the changes that have occurred in terms of diversity within our Defence Forces. I also regret that the Defence Forces were not facilitated to reflect that diversity. The vast majority of our Defence Forces have no truck with those who engage in serious assaults on people. They value what they stand for. It is not necessarily about higher standards but it is the case that people look up to gardaí and members of the Defence Forces. We all looked up to the Garda and the military. Maybe that was a very naive way of looking at things but we did and it mattered, in terms of the sense of order in society. We take pride in how our Defence Forces perform overseas. We have a top-class military and the fact that the Chief of Staff was selected by his peers to be the chief of the EU military committee speaks volumes for the quality of our military leadership in terms of their capacity and their understanding of complex military issues, strategies and so on. I want to enhance all of that. If we allow for political activity, it could get very political very quickly depending on who is in government and so on. I would hate to think we would end up in that scenario.