Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Report and Final Stages Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-02 ============================================================ Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland I have a number of amendments to this section. When we were discussing this on Committee Stage, there was a strong push-back against the amendment we proposed at the time, which was the idea that there would a requirement for a motion to the Dáil or Seanad in respect of such deployments. It was argued that we already do it. We do it 240-something times in the year but, as was said, there is still that question that if we are already doing it and it is already in practice, then why are we adding this specific power now? There is also the question of transparency and accountability because it is a significant thing for the Defence Forces to be deployed in a civil matter. That is why I have a set of amendments which are seeking to bring transparency to such measures as are proposed in the Bill. At the moment, the legislation speaks to the fact that the Minister for justice decides to request that the Minister for Defence would allow for the Defence Forces to be deployed and it may be subject to conditions, but which conditions? Amendment No. 19 relates to when publishing is requested by a committee. This does not slow the Government down. This is not something that means the Government cannot act in this prompt way on those matters that are being put forward by the Minister in terms of a missing person, the clearing of the rhododendron, or whatever else the Defence Forces may have been deployed for. It reads: When requested by a committee appointed by either House of the Oireachtas or jointly by both Houses of the Oireachtas, the Minister shall publish information in relation to the conditions attached to the approval of decisions under subsection (2). I am going to pick one of the most harmless of the deployments, the removal of the rhododendron in a national park, which I certainly have no objection to, or we could look to the deployment of the Defence Forces in relation to the clearing of a public street. There are many different examples, but it is that the relevant committee can ask what conditions were attached when the Minister for Defence agreed that the Defence Forces would be allowed to act in this way, in the public space, in an area that would normally and properly be the remit of civil authority. It can ask what conditions were attached to the bringing in of the Army in these situations. That is an important piece because at the moment, it simply reads, "The Minister may, subject to such conditions as he or she may specify, give general approval". This is not just for individual instances but for a "class or classes of assistance". We then come to our second amendment, amendment No. 20. It reads: The Minister shall publish, on an annual basis, the class or classes of assistance as agreed with the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, for which deployment of members of the Defence Forces in aid of the civil power has been approved. All of that argument about how this will slow us down, etc., does not apply in these instances. These are instances around transparency and good governance. What are the class or classes of assistance? Is missing persons a class? The example given by Senator McDowell in the past was in the protection of the transfer of large amounts of money. Whatever they are, let us know what the classes are because at the moment the Bill allows for the Minister to come up with new classes, categories and types of things that the Army can come in for. If the Minister for Defence and the Minister for justice agree - there is not a requirement to get their Cabinet on board but presumably they will seek to do so - they can use the Army for all kinds of things. The Minister may say that it is already used for those kinds of things but if they are reasonable kinds of things, there should not be an objection to publishing it and letting us know what the categories of action and situations are in which the public may expect to find the Army deployed within the civil space. Where they might have expected to find An Garda Síochána, they are finding the Army. Where they might have expected to find another member of the civil authority, the Army is suddenly involved. The public is entitled to know why and for what purposes, so that then there can be a little bit of an evaluation, at a minimum in the public space if not a requirement in the Oireachtas, as to whether it is an appropriate use of the Army. It at least allows for transparency so that we know and can have that discussion, even if my amendments do not create an obstacle to the allocation of such classes. They simply look for transparency in relation to them. Amendment No. 21 proposes that Minister publishes the list of class or classes in aid of the civil power. It also proposes that "Where the Minister wishes to introduce a novel class of assistance", the published list would be updated. If the Government introduces a new category of situation, for example, surrounding data centres and the Critical Infrastructure Bill, or some other area is deemed as an area for the use of the Army, besides all of those uses that may be worthy that we have heard of in terms of explosives and missing persons, the Minister should publish that and it should be made clearly available. This is so that the public can at least know that the decision has been made and that there might, at least at a minimum, be political accountability in relation to that decision and its merits are debated. Amendment No. 22 reads: In page 19, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following: “(3) The Minister shall, in consultation with the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, develop and publish guidelines for directions to deploy members of the Defence Forces in aid of the civil power under subsection (1).”. With these amendments, I have gone directly back to things that are in the Minister's amendment and looked for the conditions and the classes of assistance to be transparent. Section 40B(4) of the Bill states, "The Chief of Staff shall, with the consent of the Minister, prepare and issue guidance to members of the Defence Forces deployed in aid of the civil power." Those guidelines should be published. That is a simple thing. If guidelines are given to the Defence Forces in respect of how they are meant to engage in an area that is not within their normal remit, which is an area of civil power and civil administration, and guidelines as to what are appropriate or inappropriate actions in that context and the appropriate protocols safeguards they should be applying, the public should also be able to know those. When members of the public engage with An Garda Síochána, they know their rights and the mechanisms and guidelines that gardaí may be operating under to a degree. Most of the public do not have the experience of engaging with the Defence Forces. If we create the possibility for situations where members of the public find themselves engaging with members of the Defence Forces, who are asserting authority in a situation, it would be useful and proper that the public would know exactly what the guidelines and appropriate or inappropriate actions are in terms of how those members of the Army may behave in the engagement. These are simple calls. They are not new mechanisms. They are not further safeguards. We have been through that debate on Committee Stage, and the proposal for a separate fail-safe mechanism was rejected. They are simply a requirement that the measures mentioned in the Bill are transparent, published and publicly available. It is a minimum requirement. --- 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