Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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17. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that deals with defence will next meet. [21748/24]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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18. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that deals with defence will next meet. [23693/24]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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19. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that deals with defence will next meet. [23880/24]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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20. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that deals with defence will next meet. [23883/24]

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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21. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that deals with defence will next meet. [23897/24]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 17 to 21, inclusive, together.

At its meeting on 10 April, the Government established ten Cabinet committees as follows: children and education and disability; economy and investment; environment and climate action; EU and international affairs; Government co-ordination; health; housing; migration, integration and Ukraine; Northern Ireland; and social affairs and public services. I am a member of all Cabinet committees, as are the Tánaiste and the Minister, Deputy Ryan. There is no Cabinet committee dedicated specifically to defence matters. The Deputies will appreciate that it would be neither possible nor practical to have a dedicated Cabinet committee for each and every policy area.

Defence policies are handled by the Tánaiste and his Department. Matters relating to the Defence Forces and defence policy matters appear frequently on the agenda for Government meetings. They may also be addressed and are addressed, as the need arises, in the framework of other Cabinet committees, including, for example, the Cabinet committees on EU and international affairs; social affairs and public services; and Government co-ordination.

There are also a number of interdepartmental and senior official groups that consider matters relating to the Defence Forces and defence policy, including the implementation group overseeing the commission on defence recommendations, and, as Taoiseach, I am kept apprised of defence and security matters.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. Unfortunately, the security situation worldwide has deteriorated drastically since 2022 and, of course, our country is not immune from those difficulties and those challenges. We never pay enough tribute to the work of the emergency services in this country, including how they protected us and our State during a very troubled era. I am thinking of An Garda Síochána, the Permanent Defence Force, the fire services, all the health services, including emergency health services, the Civil Defence, our local authorities and many others. At that time there was a huge knowledge built up in the Border area among those personnel who were based locally.

Recently, I have been raising constantly with An Tánaiste the possibility of having the former Dún Uí Néill barracks in Cavan reopened. At the moment, the Army structure in our country is such that we have Finner Camp in south Donegal and Aiken Barracks in Dundalk. The central Border area does not have a barracks. That is huge land Border, as the Taoiseach knows, with a neighbouring jurisdiction. I believe that the Dún Uí Néill barracks, which the Taoiseach visited from an ETB point of view some time ago, when most of the barracks was still intact, should be used, at least initially, as a forward operating base prior to its re-establishment as a full barracks. There was animal disease in this country. We had to deal with the security situation. The knowledge of the personnel based locally is not on any file. It is being lost now because we do not have those personnel based in that area. We can never factor enough into our thinking local knowledge or the people locally making decisions in barracks, Garda stations or whatever.

I would like the Taoiseach, along with the Tánaiste, to consider the reopening of Dún Uí Néill, initially as a forward operating base, because of the particular challenges that face us in that area with a long land Border with a neighbouring jurisdiction. Unfortunately, paramilitarism has not ceased entirely.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I have raised this issue once or twice over the past few weeks but I would like to raise it with the Taoiseach because I am not satisfied with the responses I have got. I was contacted by a Sergeant Patrick Gorman, who served for 35 years in the navy. He had a conduct rating that was exemplary. He had an active service record: 1986 in Lebanon; 1993, Somalia; 2004, Liberia; 2005, Liberia; 2006, Liberia; 2008, Chad; and 2010, Chad. He is therefore someone who served for a very long time this country on those missions, and he tells me that he was denied what is called a presentation when one retires.

I was not aware of this but it is a ceremony where a person is brought back in with his or her family as a "thank you" for service given. He and a number of his colleagues were denied this presentation because he had made a protected disclosure. That is his belief. He had made a protected disclosure about health and safety issues and other things, as he felt obliged to do. It was particularly about the use of dangerous chemicals and lack of proper safety precautions putting the health of Defence Forces personnel in danger. I do not have time to go through the details but he disclosed some quite shocking facts or certainly things that needed to be investigated. He was denied his presentation and was also denied being able to go to the WRC because apparently there is some obscure distinction between being a worker and an employee. When you are a member of the Defence Forces, you cannot go to the WRC over penalisation.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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I am going to have to move on

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I would like this looked into.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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I do not think this is fitting for-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It is Defence Forces.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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I know but it is also talking about an individual. I should have said it to you at the start.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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He gave me permission.

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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That does not necessarily qualify under Standing Orders. The clock is running down and I have two other Members I would like to let in.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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We had a debate this morning on our motion to defend the triple lock and will have a vote this evening. Is the Taoiseach still committed to scrapping, ending, modifying, getting rid of - whatever you want to call it - the current triple lock in the term of this Government, without a new democratic mandate and without going to the people to allow them to decide through an election or referendum? If he is, will he admit the idea the triple lock allows a veto of Security Council members is a red herring? That is not true. That is not what the triple lock does because the Defence (Amendment) Act 2006 is clear this is not just about peacekeeping missions authorised by the UN Security Council but also includes other peacekeeping missions, including regional peacekeeping missions, supported, approved or otherwise sanctioned by a resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations. Any mission that has majority support in the United Nations can be covered by the triple lock. This is actually about enabling future Governments to send troops abroad on missions that do not have the support of the majority of the United Nations - forget about the General Assembly and Security Council. In other words, these would be the sort of missions we have seen in the Middle East led by the US and NATO.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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In a slight departure from the triple lock, I will bring the Taoiseach back to Bere Island off west Cork. The Department of Defence has an important training facility there for naval personnel. Unfortunately, there is an issue with Department of Defence-owned infrastructure there, namely, a slipway at Lawrence Cove. It is an important slipway used by naval personnel but also by a car ferry operating between Castletownbere and Bere Island. It is in a really bad state. I brought it to the attention of the Tánaiste already. There is Department of Defence infrastructure there, slipways and piers, that could do with a fund to upgrade them and bring them up to standard. I would really like if the Taoiseach would raise that.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank colleagues for the range of questions. I join Deputy Smith in thanking all our emergency and uniformed services who have kept the country safe on many occasions in different ways. The Border communities the Deputy represents are particularly acutely aware of the huge level of service provided by those people. I echo those words. I know Dún Uí Néill barracks because I have been there with the Deputy. Cavan Institute is benefiting from a small piece of it. I take that point and the Deputy's view that the former barracks needs to be reopened in some capacity, given the benefit that would provide to the region. I will discuss that with the Tánaiste, seek his views and those of the Defence Forces and revert back to the Deputy on the issue.

In response to Deputy Boyd Barrett, I am happy to explore what is going on there. I do not have a direct role in this or an understanding of the situation but if the Deputy passes on the details, I will seek the views of the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence on why the presentation was denied to some people in the Defence Forces.

On Deputy Murphy's point, there has been a lengthy debate on the triple lock through the Private Members' motion. We will vote on it later today. I see this as amending the triple lock in the sense there will still be three elements, namely, the UN Charter, Government approval and Dáil approval. As I have said on a number of occasions, it is important we allow the Minister for Defence to bring forward legislation - it is our intention to do that in the lifetime of this Dáil - and to allow that to be scrutinised at an Oireachtas committee and considered. When people see the detail of the legislation, I think it will show it is not intended to do what the Deputy fears it will. It is time to refresh the situation regarding the triple lock and I look forward to a debate in due course.

Deputy O'Sullivan referred to Bere Island. That island is getting a good run today. We did its health services a while ago; now we are rightly talking about the issue in relation to the slipway and the need for a fund for slipways and piers. The Deputy made the point there is a defence facility on the island. I will discuss it with the Tánaiste and, perhaps, the local authority and revert to the Deputy.