I am pleased to present this Bill, which will play a key role in driving the necessary transformation of the Defence Forces. Senators will be aware that high-profile reviews have been undertaken on matters relating to the defence sector in recent years. Key reports include those of the Commission on the Defence Forces and the independent review group on dignity and equality issues in the Defence Forces. As I outlined on a number of occasions, there will be a requirement for an extensive programme of legislative ref…

If I may be released, I have to go the other House for a debate on the migration pact. Apologies.

The measure before this House represents a balanced, ambitious and important initiative to improve the ability of Ireland and our fellow European countries to address very real pressures which have grown due to the scale and nature of migration from outside of Europe. It seeks to ensure that we share burdens, co-operate actively and protect the integrity of the system for protecting those seeking asylum. The asylum and migration pact represents a large-scale restructuring of Ireland's asylum system, a restructuring…

Sinn Féin is opting in to the bulk of it.

I thank the Deputy for the clarification.

In fairness, I did not give the Deputy any rote response the last time and I am not going to give him one now.

Neither am I going to accept the amendment. I indicated to the Deputy I would be introducing the most comprehensive legislation in terms of command and control within the Defence Forces. In the period between Committee and Report Stages, I have already approved a paper that my officials had done some work on in respect of CHOD, in respect of the recommendation the commission came forward with. While I appreciate the debate the amendment provokes, the amendment itself, even from the paper I have approved, in no way …

The Deputy is pre-empting the debate. This one amendment would not cover any of this, and deep down Deputy Howlin knows this, with no proper discussion or debate-----

I welcome the Deputy's interest in this and his promoting of it but an amendment is short and it could create more challenges in the working out of the details. A lot of work has gone into this. Deputy Howlin has been in government. He is a veteran of Government as well as of Opposition. He tends to be a bit more radical when on the Opposition benches when it comes to the sharing of information and ideas. Seriously, however, a lot of work is going into this. I might surprise the Deputy on the timelines because I am…

That is not quite how it works.

It does not work that way.

Is the Deputy being somewhat mischievous? Under the Constitution, the Government must prepare legislation and develop legislation. That is the context. I said there is working paper that I approved recently, to give the Deputy a sense that this is happening right now. I was afraid he might have thought this was on the long finger and that I was only saying it. There is advanced work going on here but the Government has to come to a decision. I have to bring this to Government and then the Government brings it to th…

The Deputy has indeed.

There will be pre-legislative scrutiny.

Pre-legislative scrutiny could change it. I will undertake to discuss this with the Deputy.

In uniform.

I thank the Deputies for their comments. If we stand back, everybody at the committee said they accepted that the Defence Forces should not be political.

What do we mean by that? What the Government is proposing is exactly that.

It includes reference to "in uniform". Are we seriously suggesting-----

I did not interrupt others. Are we seriously suggesting that the military should become politicised? That is what the Deputies are saying.