Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Report and Final Stages Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-02 ============================================================ Maria McCormack (SF), Labour Panel I will discuss amendment No. 18 first. This amendment seeks to annul the provision in relation to aid to the civil power. Despite what the Minister said to me on Committee Stage as to the reasons for the inclusion of these provisions in this Bill, today we have no explanation whatsoever as to what prompted the Government to bring forward these provisions. The Minister for foreign affairs and for Defence was completely evasive on this matter when this was discussed in the Dáil select committee. I looked back over the transcript from that committee from 19 May, which I have to hand, and it is not adding up. We do not know where the rationale for bringing forward these changes came from and why it is being done in such a rushed manner and as part of this miscellaneous provisions Bill, which, the Minister has already stated, already covers a wide range of, in my opinion, unrelated matters. Sinn Féin has been clear that any expansion of Defence Forces powers must be grounded in transparency, democratic oversight and absolute respect for civil liberties. Whether the Minister accepts it or not, the fact is that the provisions on the aid to the civil power raise concerns regarding the normalising of military involvement in policing, which should remain exceptional and limited. An Garda Síochána is the primary civilian policing authority and any Defence Forces support must remain exceptional, time bound and tightly controlled. I am interested in the Minister's response here. I am not entirely satisfied. On the last occasion, the Minister told me that this has been used for a long time and is already in place. If this is already in place, why did this need to come forward now and as part of this miscellaneous provisions Bill? Why is it not getting a chance to go through the defence and foreign affairs committees? It seems to have been pushed through and added on here. This Bill already has many unrelated matters. The Minister for foreign affairs seemed to not really understand her reasons for bringing this forward right now. I am hoping the Minister might be able to clarify it for me. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-02/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:09+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-02