Oireachtas oversight (or lack thereof) of the Defence Forces
Every year, the Garda Commissioner and his/her senior officers appear publicly before an Oireachtas committee.
The Garda Commissioner is called before the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality, but has also been called before, for example, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
Why, therefore, is the same rule not applied to the Defence Forces, its Chief of Staff and General Staff, with regards to the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence, under whose remit the DF falls?
There seems to be a lack of legislative oversight with regards to the Defence Forces and no public forum for issues to be raised between elected representatives who sit on the committee and the General Staff, as is the case in other western democracies when the most senior uniformed officers answer to legislative committees in public hearings on an annual basis.
Is it a case of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence not calling the General Staff before them for whatever reason as there is hardly anything that prohibits this?
Anyone?
