Vol. 434 No. 10
22 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Defence whether, in accordance with the recommendation of the Gleeson Commission, he has examined the possibilities of introducing an arrangement whereby Departments of State or other civil authorities which initiate requests for military assistance, such as security duties in aid to the civil power would be charged for such assistance; and if so, the result of this examination.
47 Mr. Sheehan asked the Minister for Defence whether, in accordance with the recommendation of the Gleeson Commission, he has examined the possibilities of introducing an arrangement whereby Departments of State or other civil authorities which initiate requests for military assistance, such as security duties in aid to the civil power would be charged for such assistance; and if so, the result of this examination.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 22 and 47 together.
Since no gain to the Exchequer is involved, services between Government Departments are, for administrative convenience, generally provided free of charge. Where a service is provided to a local authority or a semi-State body, the general practice is to recover the associated charges.
As regards aid to the civil power, this, in practice, means the provision of military assistance to the Garda Síochána. Since this is one of the principal roles of the Defence Forces the question of recovery of costs does not arise.
In the case of cash escorts, however, arrangements were made in 1992 for the recovery of the sum of £2 million from the Associated Banks towards the cost of such escorts — £1.5 million for the Department of Defence and £0.5 million for the Department of Justice. A similar arrangement for the year 1993 was announced in this year's budget.
