As this is the Fifth Stage of the Bill, and as I understood the theory was that the purpose of the Fifth Stage was to see if there were any verbal alterations to be made as a result of amendments, I do not see anything that I can say which would really be apposite to the Fifth Stage. I cannot see that anything that has been said has been apposite. Deputy Aiken, and I think other Deputies, too, talked about the volunteers as a failure. The volunteer movement has certainly exceeded my expectations. The Army is not prepared at present to take over a very large volunteer force. We want its growth to be steady; we do not want its growth to exceed our capacity for dealing with it. To my mind, it is one of the most hopeful signs in the country. Deputy Aiken said that I took to myself power. The Government does not take to itself power; it only uses the power it possesses. The Deputy also said that, as far as he could see, there has been no increase in efficiency in the Army. I see the Army rather more closely than he does, and I see a very considerable increase. He and a number of other Deputies have spoken in this way: "If organised on proper national lines." What are the lines upon which the volunteers are organised? They are young men invited without any regard to their political opinion, or any other opinion, to recognise that as citizens of the State they owe a duty to the State. These young men are invited to accept that duty in its highest form, and to give voluntary service, recognising that a State exists for the well-being of the people in it; that a State is a necessity, and that a State, from time to time, requires defence. Those are the lines upon which the volunteers are organised. If there are any better lines I should like to hear them.
Deputy Aiken also said that it was to be made a weapon to uphold British supremacy, and that certain people joining the volunteers joined for the purpose of fitting themselves to serve the British. At a later stage somebody said that one branch of the service joined in order to get control of the Army, to use the Army against the national ideals of this country. If anybody joins the Army for the purpose of using it against the wishes of the people they are very misguided, because the Army is directed and controlled by the Government that exists here, and the Government that exercises its power here, and not by the individuals in the Army.
The policy of the Army is not controlled or affected by the point of view of the members of it. It is the Government that does that, and it is the Government's duty to do that because although Deputy Aiken does not seem to realise certain things they remain true all the same. Deputy Lemass spoke about the cause of the failure of the volunteers. As I say, the success of the volunteers' service has exceeded our expectations, and our capacity at the moment is limited. He said that there was an impression created that it was a partisan body. I would invite anyone to produce any statement of mine, since I became Minister for Defence, that would justify any intelligent person in thinking that the Army was intended by me to be a partisan body. I have, since I became Minister for Defence, made a number of statements to the Army, and about the Army, and in practically every one of these I have indicated, quite clearly, that the Army exists as the servant of the Irish Government, and through the Irish Government as the servants of the Irish people and for no other purpose.
If any impression is created that the Army is a partisan body it is created by the opponents of the Government, that is to say, by persons not in control of the Army and not responsible for Army policy. Deputy Aiken proceeded to use words that would have the effect that he deplored. He said the volunteers were regarded as a partisan body because they were associated with the regular Army. Of course, they are associated with the regular Army. They exist for the same purpose, but one degree removed, because if the existence of this State were threatened in any way the first force that would be called upon to protect it, would be the standing Army; secondly, the reserves would be called upon and only when these forces proved inadequate or were likely to prove inadequate would the volunteers be called upon. The impression that the Army is associated with the Government Party has only been created by opponents of the Government. When people call the Government the Free State Party, and the Army the Free State Army—the Government is very proud of being called the Free State Party—it is those people themselves who tend to create the impression that they deplore. Nobody is less anxious than I am in Army matters to carry into 1930, the traditions of what is euphemistically called the Civil War of 1922. I think anybody anxious to eliminate the effectiveness of that memory from this country should welcome, as I do, the creation of the volunteer force which is, as I say, one of the most hopeful signs of the return to normality.
Deputy Lemass asked why I had not taken steps to secure in advance the co-operation of hostile political parties. My idea of government is that being endowed with power, and consequently with responsibility, it is for the Government to take over that responsibility to the full. It is the Government's business to do that work, and not to try to put it on other people's shoulders, or to off-load any blame on to other people. Deputy Lemass said I did not take the Dáil into consultation, and that if I had brought in a Bill I would have had the views of all parties. Deputy Fahy said that the time had not come for starting a volunteer force. I have been asked, time and again, from the benches opposite, why I was delaying in starting a volunteer force. The Dáil indicated quite clearly, if words used here mean anything, that they desired that the power put into my hands for the formation of this body should be used without further delay. I felt guilty, if anything, of the delay that had taken place in forming that body. That delay was caused by a lack of preparedness and the time required for making this move. Deputy Lemass read from certain regulations about the volunteers being engaged to serve the Executive Council of Saorstat Eireann and possibly being used when public order was threatened. As I have already said, the volunteers will only be used when the other forces are inadequate, but, of course, any armed force must engage to serve the Executive Council. Anything else would be directly contrary to the whole principles of Government, and would lead to anarchy. The differences in the point of view between us and the Party opposite— I do not wish to say anything offensive when it comes to dealing with the Army, and I can assure the Party opposite I am never moved by party feeling when dealing with the Army—the differences between us are radical and fundamental. Last week Deputy Aiken, apropos of nothing, said—and expected laughter from the House, as if it were something ridiculous—that the President said he received his authority from Providence. I do not know what theological point of view Deputy Aiken may have, but, to my mind, that is an ordinary article of doctrine. As I noticed members of the Fianna Fáil Party seemed to be ignorant on that point I took occasion, a couple of weeks ago, to make a speech in Dun Laoghaire, and I quoted from certain Encyclicals that I commend to Deputy Aiken, Mirari Vos and Immortelli Dei. As long as people have the point of view that the Government here is merely representing and exercising authority by virtue of the Party behind them, there is something fundamentally wrong, and it is because of that point of view that all through the Fianna Fáil speeches you see a certain resentment and annoyance that any armed force in this country should be governed, directed and controlled by the Executive Council. I do not see any way to escape from that. Deputy Lemass, I think it was, said that the Penal Laws created servility. I am most anxious that the mentality of our people should turn from servility to service, and the volunteers are not only the embodiment of the idea, but I think they will tend to create that attitude of mind that desires to give service as distinct from the attitude of mind that is merely servile.
Deputy Lemass has repeated his statement that people are afraid that the volunteers are intended to be a Fascist force for Cumann na nGaedheal. I do not know what he means by a Fascist force. If he thinks that the whole people of the country belong to Cumann na nGaedheal, I think he is very slightly inaccurate, but in so far as they do not all belong to it, it cannot be said that the volunteers are a force at the service of Cumann na nGaedheal. Deputy O'Connell is very nervous about the militaristic spirit. So far as the Army is concerned, the whole end for which it exists is not described by the term "militaristic spirit." I do not think that anybody can accuse us of militarism or of being inspired by a militaristic point of view when we retain a defence force, a small standing Army, whose sole purpose is the purpose of defence. That also applies to the reserve and the volunteers. It has also been stated that Fianna Fáil did a certain amount to wipe out the past, and that they must have some gesture. I am afraid that people will have to be satisfied without a gesture. Deputy O'Kelly would insist on speaking as if 1914 were analagous with 1930, whereas a totally different situation exists here now.
It was said that there was an idea abroad that the Army was not travelling along certain lines, that certain mutineers felt that the Army was not travelling along the path which it was intended to travel. I think it was Deputy Derrig who said that. I think that what may have been wrong was that people had a wrong idea of the path which it was intended the Army should travel. The path intended for the Army was that members of it should be governed by a rigid discipline, directed solely to make them servants of the country and of the people of the country. Their purpose was the defence of this State. Anybody who attempted to misdirect them had no place in the Army. So far as I understood Deputy Tierney, I think he was not suggesting that if Fianna Fáil came into power—God between us in all harm—there would be an army that would mutiny against them. I think what he felt was that the different statements and different policies declared from time to time by Fianna Fáil were such that it would lead to the existence in this country of a body of armed men who would not be subject to Fianna Fáil who would form the Government. I am very glad, in so far as it has taken place, to hear anything that indicates that Fianna Fáil, if it comes into power, intends to use its power and the Army to see to it that no illegal body attempts to usurp authority in this country.
I shall again say what I have said ad nauseam, that the Army is not the tool of a political party. It is controlled by the Government, which exercises that authority which it receives from above in this country and it is to be used solely in defence of the country for this country's good. If anybody feels that that is against Irish national tradition, then they had better put up something better than that, but I do not understand it. If it is accepted that that is the Irish tradition, I would defy anybody to show anything which would justify anybody in believing that the volunteer force has been founded otherwise than in the best traditions of this country. I believe it has a great future before it in this country. It is only in the beginning and we are moving slowly, and so far I have not, as far as the volunteer force is concerned, made any move to extend it beyond the Dublin area. That will come I hope during the course of the coming year, but I do feel that since 1922 there has been no movement which should be more calculated to call for the support of not only every Party in this House but every decent citizen throughout the country. Everything I have done has been most carefully directed to seeing that nobody could have any misapprehension in the matter, that everybody would be given a fair opportunity to understand what the object of the body was, what its constitution was, and that they should realise that it deserved very wholehearted support, quite independent of political points of view. I would have expected from the many pronouncements of the Fianna Fáil Party that it should commend itself to them not less than it commends itself to me. Apparently some peoples' minds move very slowly and it may be another year or two before Fianna Fáil sees its way to bring its good words into operation. It may please them to know that I have great hopes of their steady progress. I have great hopes of seeing them in their capacity as ordinary citizens doing their best to support this movement, which must commend itself to all the better aspects of their minds.
