While we are militarily neutral as a country, we have always supported efforts to improve the effectiveness of the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy. Indeed, successive governments have not viewed Ireland's policy of neutrality as meaning that the country should stand aside and not get involved in peacekeeping or stability in other parts of the world, rather, they have considered that neutrality enhances Ireland’s reputation internationally and enables more effective engagement in efforts to promote peace and…

I do not accept the Deputy's argument that NATO is provoking a Russian military build-up on the borders of Ukraine. I do not think that is an argument that stands up to scrutiny. There has been an ongoing military conflict on the borders of Ukraine for some time. We have seen a dramatic increase in military presence on multiple elements of the Ukrainian border, coming from the Russian side. That is creating extraordinary tension. NATO has responded to that tension and we now need to focus on trying to defuse it as …

Ireland is not a member of NATO. NATO can speak for itself on these issues, but if one speaks to colleagues in other parts of Europe that are members of NATO, they will give a very different perspective from that just given by Deputy Boyd Barrett in terms of their own protection and security into the future given their historical relationship with other countries that they still regard as a potential threat. Ireland is in the fortunate geographical position in the world where it does not feel threats externally fro…

Before I respond to questions on defence, with the understanding of colleagues, I would like to make a brief comment to address media reports about my comments in response to a question last night at the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party meeting on defence matters and on the situation in Ukraine. I mentioned this earlier to some Deputies.

It is not a statement per se . It is something I would like to raise with the Deputies' accommodation. I have absolutely no hesitation in expressing my full support and confidence in the Chief of Staff and in his judgment. The Chief of Staff is holding a number of pro forma meetings at the moment with members of the diplomatic corps, as a new Chief of Staff would be expected to do. Those meetings have been set up over many weeks. What I commented on last night in response to a question related to the timing of the …

I propose to take Questions Nos. 92 and 93 together. The programme for Government committed to the establishment of an independent commission to undertake a comprehensive review of the Defence Forces. The independent Commission on the Defence Forces was established by the Government in December 2020 and its terms of reference provide for it to examine and make recommendations regarding the structures and size of the Defence Forces, defence capabilities, HR polices and strategies, the Reserve Defence Force, governan…

I thank both Deputies. The expectation was that this piece of work would have concluded by the end of last year but this is not a straightforward piece of work. There are quite a lot of people on the commission who bring extraordinary expertise and experience and are anxious to get this right. This is essentially a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reset and recalibrate. In some ways, it will mark a new direction for the Defence Forces. I have been clear to the chair of the commission that I want the right outcome …

A report of the magnitude of the one the commission is doing will, of course, attract commentary. People will express concern and ambitions that they want accommodated in the commission's report. There has been some such commentary and that is to be expected. I ask people to be patient and wait for the content of the report. My understanding is that this will be a substantial report with a lot of recommendations, some of which may relate to fundamental change. Let us wait for the report and assess it. My role will …

This is an issue on which the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has firm views. My job as Minister for Defence is, of course, to look after the interests of the Defence Forces. We are looking at various options but I can assure the House there is no predetermined outcome.

We are working hard to make sure that as this document gets finalised, it is protected in terms of its content. As I said, I have not seen any final draft. I had a meeting with the chair, as one would expect, to get an update report in terms of where things are and the direction of travel and so on. I understand various different amendments were still being considered this week in terms of the report being finalised and we must respect that process. It is not a surprise on something of this scale that there would b…

On Tuesday last, following Cabinet approval, I announced the establishment of a judge-led independent review group to examine the effectiveness of systems, policies and procedures dealing with workplace issues relating to bullying, discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment and sexual misconduct in the Defence Forces. The independent review will be undertaken by former High Court judge, Ms Bronagh O’Hanlon, who will be the chairperson; Mark Connaughton SC, who was recommended by the Attorney General's office; an…

That is not the case. If the Deputy looks at the terms of reference, we are asking this review group to advise us on the changes that are necessary in the Defence Forces in terms of structures, legal underpinning, procedures and end-to-end complaints procedures. There is, therefore, much work in that regard. This is a difficult area in which efforts have been made to respond to and change structures to accommodate and so on in the past. Clearly, that has not worked to the extent needed. We have now asked an experie…

We want to continue to work with the Women of Honour and, indeed, other groups through this review group. If recommendations come from the review group for new structures in dealing with historical cases - for example, a commission of inquiry - of course I will bring that to the Government.

I believe we need a group that can report back in the next six to nine months, and that is what this review group can do.

I give a commitment to this House, the Women of Honour and other groups that I have met in this regard. I remain open to talking to all groups, by the way, while this review is undertaken but I also encourage everybody to engage with the review group. Ms Justice O'Hanlon is absolutely committed to this process, as is Jane Williams and the senior counsel who is working with both of them. We are determined to bring about fundamental change on the back of the report that comes from this independent review, which needs…

I thank the Deputy for the question, but I am afraid that he might not be happy with this answer. The brief I have is that for operational security reasons, the details of the numbers of Defence Forces personnel that are currently stationed at Custume Barracks in Athlone, as well as those over the past five years, cannot, and should not, be disclosed. It should be noted, however, that the number of personnel stationed at a particular location will frequently vary on an ongoing basis as it is a normal operational fe…

With respect, giving the numbers of personnel linked to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is very different from giving the numbers for our Defence Forces personnel and where they are. I assure the Deputy that there is no downgrading of Custume Barracks at all; in fact, the opposite is the case. We continue to invest there, and we will continue to invest there. However, the advice that I have is that for security and operational reasons, from a Defence Forces perspective, we do not talk about numbe…

I take that point. We are about to have a debate on everything from overall Defence Forces numbers, the numbers within the Army, the Air Corps, the Naval Service, resources for cybersecurity, military intelligence and capacity issues to structures within the Defence Forces and how they interact with each other and so on. It is my hope that this will allow us to have a broad, forward-looking debate on how we resource the Defence Forces appropriately into the future, as well as the capacity issues that need to be add…

I thank the Deputy. The Army Pensions Acts provide for the grant of pensions and gratuities to former members of the primary Defence Forces in respect of permanent disablement due to a wound or injury attributable to military service, whether at home or abroad, or due to disease attributable to, or aggravated by, overseas service with the United Nations. Section 13(2) of the Army Pensions Act,1923, as amended, provides that: Any compensation which may be received from or on behalf of the person alleged to be respon…

I will come back in again. This is clearly quite a complex legal area-----