Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2024-07-03
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Michael McDowell (IND), National University of Ireland

Yes, but, as I see it, the amendments made by section 24 of this Bill accord to members of a representative organisation the right to publicly articulate, in good faith, a position which could be a matter of public policy or not, but which concerns the activities of that representative organisation. What worries me is the right to comment or to contradict that is taken away from individual members of the Defence Forces who may disagree with it. If a member of RACO says “We fully support the Tánaiste’s view on A, B and C", he or she is entitled to say that but a member of the Defence Forces is not entitled to write a letter to the newspaper saying "(a) they did not consult me, or (b) in any event I disagree with them."

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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