Criminal Law and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Instruction to Committee
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-13
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Helen McEntee (FG), Meath East

I thank the Deputies. I will touch on a number of points. It has been suggested that this is an attempt to sneak something in and to avoid debate and proper consideration but that is not reflected in the facts. Since coming into this Department and first engaging with our Defence Forces, particularly our Naval Service, and since publishing the maritime security strategy, I have been very clear that I want to introduce new legislation to consolidate the various pieces of legislation our Naval Service currently works to into a specific defence Act. The Defence Forces have been asking for that. I have also been very clear that I want this in place before we begin our Presidency. There is a reason for that. I brought a memorandum to the Cabinet back in March. I did not hide the fact that I was bringing it to the Cabinet. I said very clearly what the intention of the memorandum was.
It is important that we have a vehicle to move this on. While it could have been other legislation, the quickest approach was to use this miscellaneous provisions Bill because it was already moving. I thank the Minister for working with me to give me a vehicle and mechanism to introduce this. Irrespective of the contents of the miscellaneous provisions Bill, this is specifically about our Defence Forces and making sure they have powers in legislation.
When at sea, the Defence Forces rely on the powers assigned to them under the Customs Act, the Sea Pollution Act, the Criminal Justice Act, the Dumping at Sea Act, the Maritime Security Act, the Maritime Safety Act and the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act. Under these Acts, members of the Defence Forces operate as authorised officers or exercise certain powers on behalf of other State bodies, including An Garda Síochána and Revenue. While these arrangements have been sufficient up until now, is has been made very clear to me that we need specific legislation through the Defence Act to grant powers specifically to the Defence Forces. This is something the Defence Forces have been asking for.
Deputy Duncan Smith is right. Just because these issues have been ongoing for some time does not mean we should not act on them now. That is what I am doing. I am responding to a very clear ask from the Defence Forces. We will have an opportunity to debate and discuss this next week, on 19 May. I am very open to engaging with colleagues on amendments or adjustments. This is a focused amendment to specify in legislation certain powers of the Defence Forces, which they can currently only use as authorised officers. It is appropriate to have this in place for the beginning of our Presidency on 1 July. That is the reason for the urgency in moving this forward. I have worked on other legislation in which other Ministers have asked me to include certain elements. That has happened without debate in this House. It is important that we are having these discussions here this evening. We will discuss these amendments further on Committee Stage before the legislation progresses through the various other Stages.
On the question of providing aid to the civil power, this has been worked on within my Department for over a year. It is not something that has just come about in the last few weeks or months. Again, this is about putting in place-----

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Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:03+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-13