Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Report and Final Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-02
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Maria McCormack (SF), Labour Panel

I thank the Minister. I am still not entirely satisfied with the reasons for bringing in this measure. I understand he is saying that this legislation needed reform because it was over 60 years old. Why did it just happen at that time? It seems to be a strange coincidence that the exact wording in this new legislation seems to be the same wording that the Minister used when he was going to call in the Defence Forces.
The provision refers to "approval for the deployment of a member of the Defence Forces in aid of the civil power". Those are the exact words that the Minister used when he was going to deploy the Defence Forces during the fuel protests. I am alarmed by the fact that the Minister has said indicated that all of this is in place already and that the Defence Forces are deployed for many reasons, including locating missing persons. Everyone wants to see these powers being strengthened for those reasons, but they are already there and are already being used. Are we just supposed to accept that these powers can be used for any purpose? I accept that we need new legislation, particularly as the Defence Forces may need to be called in at any stage. However, we do not know what that need might be. Mary, Joe and Paddy could decide to have a protest outside the gate, but who decides that the Defence Forces need to be called in? Where does this begin and end?

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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