Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Over the years this committee has engaged with the Defence Forces. As the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence we are often struck, sometimes to a remarkable extent, by the lack of engagement and consultation and the absence of listening, as Professor MacCraith mentioned, between the Department of Defence and not only the representative bodies but also rank and file members in a way that I do not think exists in other jurisdictions and in similar-type parallel engagements here in this jurisdiction. It is something that needs to be addressed. I think the oversight body has a not-insignificant role in ensuring that no longer exists. To me, as a civilian and a public representative, albeit in a constituency that does not have a heavy Army presence, it seems to me that this disconnect has been allowed to continue in such a way as to cause a very serious problem.