Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2024-07-03
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Gerard P. Craughwell (IND), Labour Panel

I personally believe the Department has a job to do and I am 100% supportive of that, but I am also deeply concerned that defence is in some way being pushed aside. It is being pushed into a corner. The events in recent weeks demonised the Defence Forces. I was deeply disappointed in the Minister's own statement when he said members of the Defence Forces have to be held to a higher standard than the rest of society. How can he say that? We are drawn from society. Members of the Defence Forces are members of our society. We were talking about 26 people mentioned in the independent review group report, which demonised and damned the Defence Forces to hell, but that has now proven to be a puff of smoke. There was nothing in it. They have gone on now to look at the next ten cases. The Garda Commissioner said there was nothing to be answered in 26 cases. The cases have been investigated and there is nothing to be seen. The Garda is now examining fewer than ten historical cases.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2024-07-03/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:53:09+00:00
Sitting date: 2024-07-03