It states that, without prejudice to the Defence (Amendment) Act 1990 and any regulations made thereunder, a member of the Defence Forces shall not do so while in uniform or otherwise identifiable. The text of the new Bill sets out to enhance the clarity of section 103 to ensure that the Defence Force members do not become involved in political matters or attend protests, marches or other gatherings "while in uniform or otherwise" making themselves identifiable as a member of the Defence Forces.
The High Court has not ruled that the rights of Defence Forces members to be involved in political activities cannot be curtailed or regulated by the Minister for Defence in any way. That is where I see a difficulty with a member of the Defence Forces becoming a director of a community and voluntary organisation because he or she is clearly identifiable as a member of the Defence Forces.
Key terms by TF-IDF across 3,464 words from 9 speakers. The summary quotes the highest-scoring sentences verbatim — nothing is paraphrased.
Tellers: Tá, Senators Paul Daly and Joe O'Reilly; Níl, Senators Gerard P. Craughwell and Mark Wall.
| Question | Result | Tá–Níl |
|---|---|---|
| Amendment again put: | Lost | 14–29 |
| Question put: | Carried | 24–9 |
Party shown is the one each member held on 2024-07-09, frozen by a dated join — not their party today. The Oireachtas API publishes no date of birth and returns an empty gender field for every member in this period, so no age or gender breakdown is shown.