That is not how it started.

I thank the Deputy for the question. I think this is the first time he is asking questions in his capacity as spokesperson on defence. I congratulate him on his appointment and look forward to ongoing engagement. My priority as Minister for Defence is to ensure the operational capability of the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service is maintained to the greatest extent possible so as to enable the Defence Forces to carry out their roles as assigned by the Government, both at home and overseas. AirNav Ireland, which was …

I certainly have.

I appreciate the Ceann Comhairle's intervention and the Deputy's query. Regarding the Deputy's reference to the then Minister, Deputy Coveney's statement, I do not see anything in it that requires a correction of the Dáil record. The two important points we have consistently made in terms of national security is that everything we do as a country is in line with our military neutrality and Irish sovereign decision-making. There is a challenge in going further than that in protecting our national security and the se…

I am sure the Deputy has read the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. It is there for the public to read. We have limited capabilities to monitor or intercept foreign aircraft in Irish skies. We are a military neutral country. Given our size and so on, we have limited capabilities. That is not a secret. It was well documented by the Commission on the Defence Forces. The eight-strong Pilatus PC-9 fleet operated by the Air Corps offers limited air-to-air and air-to-ground intercept capability. There has b…

As the Deputy will be aware, the Government has agreed to progress as a priority the 13 recommendations of the independent review group, IRG, including the setting up an external oversight body - on a non-statutory basis initially - to increase transparency and accountability and to drive necessary culture change throughout the Defence Forces. I moved quickly on the establishment of the external oversight body, given its central role in driving change and to create momentum around the implementation of the IRG's re…

The Government has to act. I became the Minister for Defence in the context of the Commission on the Defence Forces and have been repeatedly asked and criticised in the House over the lack of momentum and progress on its recommendations, even though we have implemented many of them. I am not going to have the same complaint made in respect of the IRG's recommendations. I wanted to show momentum from very early on. I respect fully, and have gone on public record as praising, the work of Women of Honour, Women and Me…

I hope to meet with the Women of Honour group again and I will do so. At the last meeting, we circulated draft terms of reference for a statutory inquiry. It was quite an amicable meeting and I was a bit surprised by the subsequent press statement. The press comments have tended to be very adversarial with regard to the actions that the Defence Forces and I are taking. We are doing this in the best interests of getting accountability, having full transparency and holding a comprehensive statutory inquiry. We circul…

The military authorities advise that, as of 31 March 2023, the strength of the Permanent Defence Force stood at 7,807. The current establishment of the Defence Forces is 9,500. Sanction has recently been received for 100 extra positions to facilitate the implementation of the Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. This is in addition to the pending appointments of a civilian head of strategic HR and a civilian head of transformation in the Defence Forces. I have previously acknowledged the current staffing…

There has been very significant investment in accommodation within the Defence Forces. I refer to single accommodation. This mainly relates to programmes of induction and training on recruitment. For example, one of the more significant investments was made in the naval centre at Haulbowline. Some very historic buildings there have been refurbished in a very well-designed and aesthetically pleasing way to facilitate good-quality accommodation. That has happened in Cathal Brugha Barracks and other barracks as well. …

I am confident we can address the issues but we have some journey to go before we will see a net increase with more staff being recruited than retiring. That is particularly the case with the Naval Service. I am very concerned about the Naval Service. I have had discussions with the flag officer and the Chief of Staff in that regard. The numbers within the Naval Service are a serious concern. We are extending access to private secondary healthcare with a view to improving quality of life for people working in our D…

The international security environment has changed significantly over the last year. In order to build a deeper understanding of the threats faced by the State and the links to and between our foreign, security and defence policy, I have convened a consultative forum on international security policy to discuss the issues involved. The consultative forum will take place in three different locations: on 22 June at University College Cork, on 23 June at the University of Galway and on 26 and 27 June at Dublin Castle. …

The Deputy has a very negative approach to the idea of even establishing a consultative forum. I find it disturbing in its own way that he would be so resolutely against an open and transparent debate in public forums regarding Ireland's foreign and security policy, as evidenced by his cynical comment about no "preconceived outcomes". I always suspected that the next approach would be to attack the chairperson. It is standard practice for the Deputy's movement and the movement he represents to try to assassinate so…

I have been invited to a dinner tomorrow evening at said gathering. There is nothing wrong with military chiefs from European countries or indeed other countries coming to such a meeting. They do this annually. It just so happens it is happening in Ireland this year - unless I am mistaken, for the first time in 20-odd years. It rotates among states and people get together to discuss the latest developments technologically and so on. That is normal. We are part of the Common Security and Defence Policy, CSDP. If you…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 and 18 together. As Minister for Defence, I chair the Government task force on emergency planning, which supported by the office of emergency planning, OEP, in my Department. A subgroup of the task force on emergency planning was assigned responsibility to develop guidance on critical infrastructure resilience in 2017. The subgroup produced the first guideline document on critical infrastructure resilience in February 2019. This document was subsequently revised and updated in Jul…

As I said in my original reply, and again I think it is important to have a calmer perspective here, maritime vessels and ships are allowed passage through our waters and EEZ. I am not sure if there is a specific definition in military terms for the word "loiter".

Well, we loitered in schools. We were loitering on the football pitch and many places.

There has been a great deal of noise and publicity about this issue. The mere sighting of certain ships in the context of the war in Ukraine has created the impression this is all something new. It is not. Ships are being monitored all the time by our Navy and Air Corps and by others. In the vast majority of cases, as I said earlier, these transit passages appear to be routine. Obviously, there is a heightened focus and interest because of the war in Ukraine and because of the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosion. Eq…

As I said in an earlier reply, there are many responsibilities in respect of protecting critical infrastructure. There are responsibilities on the owners and operators and on the Defence Forces in terms of surveillance, etc., but the Naval Service has no unilateral powers of enforcement regarding damage, criminal or otherwise, to undersea cables or other communication links in Ireland's EEZ. The Naval Service retains certain capabilities that allow for underwater search and surveying, including an underwater remote…

I thank the Deputy for the question. Since taking up my role as Tánaiste and Minister for Defence last December, I have met with representatives of PDFORRA on three separate occasions to date. These were on 13 February to discuss a range of pay and conditions matters, on 27 March to update the association on the recent report of the Independent Review Group on Dignity and Equality issues in the Defence Forces, and on 2 May to seek the views of the association on that report and on draft terms of reference for a sta…