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Oireachtas oversight (or lack thereof) of the Defence Forces

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  • 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?

  • #2
    Maybe its because most questions asked would fall under the "too sensitive for the public domain" catagory

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    • #3
      Just because it doesn't make the news doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

      A quick Google shows COS has definitely appeared before the PAC not sure about the Defence Committee. The Secretary General has definitely appeared before the Defence Committee.

      It is only since the PwC report that the General Staff have had an pull with the Department, the Department always called the shots.

      If they don't it could possibly due to the legislative framework the DF operates in which is very different from AGS, the COS is appointed by the President (the Commissioner isn't)

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      • #4
        Its the accountable officer, usually the sec-gen who can be called in by the PAC etc. The DF is not a free wheeling agency/quango and is under direct control of the Minister.

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        • #5
          The DF has been mentioned in dispatches by the Ombudsman who deals with waste of public funds. They are certainly not unaccountable.

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          • #6
            Are you referring the the Auditor & Comptroller General perchance?

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            • #7
              that's the blighter!

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              • #8
                And PAC

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