Lisa Chambers
Question:35. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if he will publish regular reports on progress towards achieving the 88 separate actions specified in the White Paper on defence. [39808/16]
View answerTuesday, 13 December 2016
Questions (35)
Oral answers (7 contributions)
Will the Minister publish regular reports on the progress towards achieving the 88 actions specified in the White Paper on defence which was released just over a year ago? It is important that we work collectively to monitor the implementation of the report and that it does not just fall to the Minister to ensure it is implemented.
The White Paper on Defence sets the defence policy agenda for the next ten years. It encompasses the Government’s policy on defence of the State from armed aggression, the defence contribution to domestic security, the defence contribution to international peace and security and a broad range of other “non-security” roles which the Government requires the Defence Forces and the Civil Defence to undertake. It considers the defence capabilities required so that the Defence Forces can successfully deliver on the roles assigned by the Government. Finally, the White Paper also considers implementation and the actions required to ensure that defence planning and provision processes are further developed.
Therefore, the White Paper encompasses all work carried out by the Department of Defence, the Defence Forces and the Civil Defence. The 88 actions or projects which have been specifically identified are a subset of the totality of the work being carried out to implement the White Paper. Implementation of the specific actions arising from the White Paper will be carried out over a ten-year period. The initiation of each action is planned across the ten-year period of the White Paper up to 2025. Actions are being initiated on a phased basis in order to reflect the programme for a partnership Government and strategy statement commitments, the related nature of some projects and resourcing implications. This process is being kept under review and will be subject to change as issues arise.
The White Paper actions are being implemented through the use of a project management framework. Civil-military project teams are being established for each action as it is initiated.
Progress on implementation will be reported on as part of the annual report and be comprehended within the development of the planned fixed cycle of defence reviews. A core aim of implementation is to ensure White Paper actions are fully embedded in the day-to-day business of the Defence organisation. Updates on specific actions will be published in the normal manner through already existing channels.
It is just over a year since the White Paper was published. We all welcome it and wish to see it implemented. I and my party would go further and ensure a significant increase in the number of personnel, if possible. However, we will have to wait for that. I ask the Minister of State to publish regular updates on the progress made towards achieving the 88 actions. Perhaps that could be done twice a year - once at the end of the year and once mid-year. The Minister of State could attend a meeting of the committee on foreign affairs and defence to update members on the implementation of the 88 actions perhaps a fortnight or three weeks after the publication of such a report. Members could then have a detailed discussion each January when the Dáil resumes and early in July just before the summer recess. This would be very useful and informative, especially for communicating the good work of our Defence Forces. It would be beneficial, in terms of working with the Department, the Defence Forces and the various representative organisations, if we worked collectively on monitoring the implementation of the 88 actions to ensure there is accountability and regular updates for Members from the Minister and his Department.
As I outlined in my reply, there is a civil and military side to the implementation of the White Paper. I get regular updates from that group, which meets regularly. I will be happy to attend a meeting of the committee at any stage regarding the action plans. However, developments on the White Paper and the actions that are taken and delivered on will be reported in the annual review of the Department of Defence, which also includes the Defence Forces. Furthermore, if the Deputy wishes to ask questions on the White Paper and its implementation on any occasion during Question Time, I have no problem answering them.
Questions in the Chamber in this instance are useful, but the debate is truncated and we do not get an opportunity to discuss any single project in detail. It would not suffice in terms of the type of reporting I am requesting and the facilitation of debate not just between myself and the Minister of State, but with other Deputies and members of the defence and foreign affairs committee. I appreciate that there are military and civil aspects to all of the actions and that there are many matters to consider. However, I believe defence matters were too little considered by the committee in the last Dáil and Deputy Brendan Smith is anxious to make up for that in the current Dáil. I hope that can be done. Other Departments, such as the Department of Health and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, update the relevant Oireachtas committee regularly. The Department of Children and Youth Affairs, for example, liaises with An Garda Síochána and other stakeholders in the community and it manages to update the relevant committee regularly on its work. The Department of Defence could probably do the same with regard to the 88 separate actions. It would not pose a huge difficulty. I ask the Minister of State to explore doing it twice yearly and to do so two to three weeks in advance of a committee meeting so we can have a debate on it, rather than in the Chamber where the debate is too truncated.
I support the request that we be given such a report. It is our duty to try to measure proposals from the Government, in this case a White Paper, especially given that we are expected to prepare for proposals in the budget when the Estimates are provided and also proposals for multi-annual funding. We cannot do that if we do not know the current progress on these far-reaching 88 recommendations. I do not agree with all of them, but they are far-reaching. At the very least, we should schedule one session, be it just before or just after the summer break, to allow the committee, hopefully, to influence the Minister of State's thoughts and those of the Government when proposing the budget, to ensure that the proposals are making progress rather than, as happened in the past, being stalled because they were sometimes an afterthought.
I have no problem with updating the committee in the second quarter of next year on the implementation of the White Paper.
As the Deputy understands, this is an important document for the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces for the future. A great deal of work went into the White Paper and I would be delighted to do what the Deputy asked. I, the Department and the Defence Forces also intend to brief the representative organisations, Representative Association of Commissioned Officers, RACO, Permanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association, PDFORRA, and the Reserve Defence Force Representative Association, RDFRA, on all the actions in the White Paper. We have specifically targeted 88 actions. I have no problem in updating the committee on this and I assure the Deputy that I have no problem in terms of the Dáil with respect to the annual report of the Department of Defence and keeping the associations up to date on exactly what we are at on the 88 initiatives.