The Deputy does not want to listen.

The Deputy does not want to listen because he wants to get a sound bite. That is the truth. He is using this issue for domestic political reasons rather than-----

What about the Deputy's charge?

That is something the Deputy could not possibly allow - that maybe I would be a strong voice for the aspirations of Palestinian people to have their own state. Perhaps Sinn Féin is not comfortable with others having a strong voice in that space.

What action has the Deputy taken?

The Deputy would isolate Ireland and make our voice far less influential than it currently is.

Ireland has no operational military co-operation with Israel. The Defence Forces have no regular contact with the Israel Defence Forces, and Ireland does not buy any military equipment directly from the Israeli Government. The primary focus for the procurement of defence equipment by the Department of Defence is to maintain the capability of the Defence Forces to fulfil the roles as assigned by Government. This includes undertaking overseas peace support operations, and in this regard to afford the greatest possibl…

Tender competitions are open to any company or country in accordance with the terms of all UN, OSCE and EU arms embargoes or restrictions. In this regard there are no such restrictions or embargoes in place on Israeli companies. The matter of barring Israeli companies from entering tender competitions for the provision of military goods would be akin to Ireland unilaterally placing an embargo on such goods from Israel. The Government does not support that approach. Such actions, in our view, would be ineffective an…

As I said, the manner in which the Department of Defence procures both goods and services remains consistent with international best practice and is in line with EU and UN decisions on trade embargoes. The one thing the Deputy and I share is the outcome we would like to see which is an end to settlement expansion, demolitions, forced evictions and a peace process that works for both sides. That is what I, on behalf of Ireland, consistently work towards. That is why I have visited Israel and Palestine five times as …

The Deputy does not want to hear a different perspective.

The Deputy does not want to hear a different perspective, that is the problem. He wants to operate on the basis of isolating Ireland. He wants us to expel the Israeli ambassador and not to talk to the Israeli Government at all.

I believe that would be completely counterproductive in terms of what we are actually trying to achieve here which is a peace process.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 81, 84, 90, 92, 98 and 107 together. Deputies will be aware that there have been three reports from the independent monitoring group, IMG, since the publication in 2002 of the report of the external advisory committee on the Defence Forces, The Challenge of the Workplace. Following extensive discussions over several months between the Secretary General and the former Chief of Staff on next steps for the IMG process and what that would encompass, it was considered that a back-to-basi…

The timeframe for the review to take place will be agreed as part of the terms of reference. My understanding is we are looking at a review that will probably take about six months. This will produce a report with recommendations which we will obviously want to act on fully within the Defence Forces, supported by the Department and the Government more generally. I am sure there will be an opportunity to focus on those recommendations when that report is done. The IMG process has a value. When I was last Minister fo…

There are many questions there. The independent contact person is in place. The importance of that person is to provide a service that is professionally delivered but also confidential so people can feel they are speaking in confidence to somebody who can take on board their concerns. That person will make a report to me as Minister but will not identify people by name. That is the way it should be so that I am aware if there are issues arising in the Defence Forces, or for people who have left the Defence Forces, …

I apologise to the Deputy. The reason "independent and unbiased" is a term used to describe the new review body is we want this to be an external review as opposed to an internal one within the military system or within the Defence Forces, which is what often takes place if there is a problem. The Chief of Staff sets up an internal review within the Defence Forces. That is the way the Defence Forces works with respect to many of the issues it must assess and review. This is different. We want an external group of p…

It is very important the review group will have access to all testimonies of people's experiences in the Defence Forces, in the past and currently, as part of its work. If there are non-disclosure legal agreements, we have to figure out how to do that in a way that will allow people to tell their stories but, at the same time, be legally sound. I do not have legal advice to hand regarding that issue, but perhaps I can come back to the Deputy with it. On the IMG process, I would not say we should or should not put a…

-----one from the commission in addition to the review we are now putting in place. We can act on both of those. If that means an IMG-----

I propose to take Questions Nos. 82, 93, 102, 110 and 126 together. On 31 October 2021, the strength of the Permanent Defence Force, PDF, was 8,572 whole-time equivalent personnel comprising 6,946 Army, 878 Naval Service and 748 Air Corps members. While the Government remains committed to returning to and maintaining the agreed strength of the Permanent Defence Force at 9,500 personnel, a number of factors, some of which are hard to predict, will impact on the timeframe in which this can be achieved. I have acknowl…

Deputy Burke is correct. When you look at the number of people who apply to join the Defence Forces and the number who fall out of that recruitment process, you do have to ask why. Those questions are being asked and we will see recommendations on HR management and recruitment from the commission in the weeks ahead. There is an appetite to join the Defence Forces. Many people who want to join, for whatever reason, then decide that they cannot or will not. We need to try to address that. I was very pleased to attend…