I welcome the Minister of State to the House.
Defence (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second and Subsequent Stages
Question proposed: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
I am pleased to present this Bill to the Seanad. This is a short technical Bill which provides for the inclusion in the Defence Act 1954 of an appropriate Naval Service rank for the position of Chief of Staff for the Defence Forces. I wish to thank Members of the House for facilitating discussion of all Stages of this Bill today.
Traditionally, the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces has assumed the Army rank of Lieutenant General. The Government on 30 June 2015 approved Rear Admiral Mark Mellet's name for approval by the President as the next Chief of Staff from the end of September. Rear Admiral Mellet is the first naval officer to be recommended for appointment by the President as Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces. The commissioned rank of Vice Admiral in the Defence Forces is the equivalent Naval rank to the Army rank of Lieutenant General. The purpose of this Bill is to provide for the rank of Vice Admiral in the Defence Act.
Before dealing with the detailed provisions of the Bill, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Rear Admiral Mellett on his forthcoming appointment. I wish him well in his new challenging role and look forward to working closely with him in the future. I thank Lieutenant General Conor O'Boyle for his distinguished service and important contribution as Chief of Staff in recent years. I also thank him for his sterling service as Deputy Chief of Staff and in many other positions that he held in the Irish Defence Forces. I wish him, and his wife Fionnula, many years of happy retirement.
I will now deal with the detailed provisions of the Bill. Section 1 is a standard definitions section which, in this case, provides definitions for the "Principal Act", being the Defence Act 1954, and the "Act of 1979", being the Defence Act 1979. Section 2 refers to the amendment of section 24 of the principal Act. The Second Schedule of the Defence Act 1954 lists in tabular format the commissioned Army and Naval Service ranks in the Defence Forces. At present, there is no equivalent Naval Service rank for the Army rank of Lieutenant General. This section amends section 24(3) of the Defence Act 1954 so as to provide for the inclusion in the Second Schedule of the Act of the equivalent commissioned Naval Service rank, that is, Vice Admiral, for the commissioned Army rank of Lieutenant General.
Section 3 refers to the amendment of the Second Schedule to the principal Act. It inserts, for ease of reference, an amended Second Schedule in the Defence Act 1954 which includes the Naval Service rank of Vice Admiral as the appropriate rank if a Naval Service officer is appointed as Chief of Staff. Section 4 is a standard citation provision. As the Bill will only effect a minor change to the Defence Act 1954, it was considered that pre-legislative scrutiny was not needed in this case.
In conclusion, I am very pleased to submit this legislation for the consideration of the House. I commend the Bill to the House.
Fianna Fáil is delighted to support this legislation. As the Minister of State has said, it is a technical Bill which relates merely to the appointment of Rear Admiral Mark Mellet as Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces. The Bill provides for a commissioned rank of Vice Admiral in the Naval Service to be equivalent to the rank of Lieutenant General which is the traditional rank held by members of the Army, as the Minister of State has explained.
We wish Rear Admiral Mark Mellet every success in his appointment. Like the Minister of State, we thank Lieutenant General O'Boyle for his service. We also greatly appreciate all of the service that is given by the Defence Forces, whether by the Army, the Naval Service or the Air Corps. We thank them for the work they do at home, which is considerable and varied, and for the work they continue to do abroad, which is in the nature of peacekeeping. I mean keeping people separate that are fighting and generally keeping the peace, which is a distinguished role that Ireland has played over many years as a small neutral country. Without further ado, I wish to say Fianna Fáil supports the Bill and thinks this is a very positive move for the Defence Forces.
I welcome the Minister of State to the House and concur heartily with all that he has said. As the Minister of State and Senator Byrne have said, this is a very simple Bill to allow for the appointment of a Rear Admiral as a Vice Admiral, which is the equivalent rank of Lieutenant General, which was the normal rank of the person who became Chief of State of the Defence Forces.
I congratulate Rear Admiral Mark Mellet on his appointment and wish him every success in his role. I also thank Lieutenant General Conor O'Boyle for his contribution and distinguished service to the Defence Forces in recent years and I wish him well in his retirement.
In terms of the Bill, the Minister of State has covered it all; it is very simple. Fine Gael supports the Bill and wishes those involved well. I do not think any more needs to be said.
Ba mhaith liom tacú leis an mBille seo ar son Sinn Féin.
Sinn Féin supports the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2015, which, as has been said, seeks to provide for the commissioned rank of Vice Admiral in the Defence Forces. The rank of Vice Admiral is the naval equivalent of the Army rank of Lieutenant General, and the holder of this rank has traditionally assumed the role of Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces.
The Government has introduced the Bill to ensure that Rear Admiral Mark Mellett, who has been working as the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces since November 2013, can take over as Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces when Lieutenant General Conor O'Boyle retires in September. As Rear Admiral Mellett will be the first Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces to be selected from outside the Army, it is necessary to create the new Vice Admiral post.
When Rear Admiral Mellett was promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff, and began as Rear Admiral, it was the first time the three military wings of the Army, the Naval Service and the Air Corps had held the top three jobs in the Defence Forces. It is welcome and important that the Army, the Naval Service and the Air Corps are represented in the general staff of the Defence Forces, and that for the first time the Chief of Staff will be selected from outside the Army. Therefore, on behalf of Sinn Féin, I wish Rear Admiral Mellett all the best in his promotion. Since he joined the Naval Service he has had a distinguished career, and he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in 1994 in recognition of the role of his ship, the LE Orla, in detaining the Brime, which was a drug-smuggling yacht. His appointment definitely signals the importance of the Naval Service to the country. This can be most clearly seen in the fantastic work that the LE Eithne, a ship that Rear Admiral Mellett once commanded, is doing in the Mediterranean. It has saved almost 3,400 migrants and is now on its way back to Ireland, to be replaced by the LE Niamh, which has already set sail from Ireland.
Rear Admiral Mark Mellett is taking over at a time of change, as the Government plans to launch its White Paper on Defence. Sinn Féin made clear in our submission to the White Paper on Defence that we feel that Irish neutrality is under severe threat and that more must be done to in order to secure Ireland's position as a neutral state. É sin ráite, ba mhaith liom tréaslú leis an Uasal Mellett. Guím gach rath air ina chuid oibre. Tá an obair atá ar bun aige fíorthábhachtach. Tá súil agam go n-éireoidh leis agus guím gach rath ar na fir agus na mná ar fad atá ag obair in éindí leis.
I welcome the Bill. I also welcome the Minister of State to the House and commend him on the work he has done on this matter. As has already been said, this is very simple legislation, but it is none the less important, as it puts in place a strategy. I also commend the Minister of State on the work he has done in bringing forward defence policy, and I understand a White Paper will be published shortly. It is very important that we assess the future security environment in the country. We have come through a number of phases with regard to security, but we are now in a peaceful situation in the main and are looking abroad. Senator Ó Clochartaigh outlined the role of the Irish Army and Naval Service in the UN, including most recently the LE Eithne. I commend all of those serving at sea and on land in the Defence Forces, including overseas, on the work they are doing now and that which they have done. I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House and I am pleased to see the Bill will be passed without opposition.
I thank all Members for their contributions and constructive comments during this very short debate. As I stated in my opening remarks, this is a very short technical Bill to allow Rear Admiral Mark Mellett to become Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces. Senator Ó Clochartaigh mentioned the fact that personnel from the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service are represented in the general staff of the Defence Forces, which is great. All of these people have played a significant role in the Irish Defence Forces in recent years. This is the first time a Naval officer will be Chief of Staff, which must be welcomed because the Naval Service has done sterling work in the Irish Defence Forces for many years. I commend all of the men and women who are members of the Defence Forces. I wish Rear Admiral Mellett the very best of luck when he takes over from Lieutenant General Conor O'Boyle in September. I thank the Senators for their contributions.
Question put and agreed to.
Bill put through Committee, reported without amendment, received for final consideration and passed.
Sitting suspended at 5.45 p.m. and resumed at 6.30 p.m.