This Estimate has been availed of to air some of the difficulties with which the Defence Forces have to contend. I am pleased with the manner in which the Estimate has been received generally and I want to assure Deputies who have made suggestions that each and every one of them will be carefully considered forthwith and, where possible, the good points in them will be given effect to.
The question of policy and the intentions of the Government have been brought into consideration by Deputy Traynor and by Deputy Vivion de Valera. I want to say at the outset that there has been no change in the defence policy over the past six or seven years as far as I am aware. This Government is carrying on the settled policy which was decided on some years ago by its predecessors. There may be some alterations in detail, but the objectives of the Army and the training of the Army are designed on the lines of the policy then laid down which were agreed by everybody as being the settled national policy of the country. Having said that, I think I can leave the matter there.
It has been suggested that our entrance into the United Nations may have an effect on that policy. I do not think so, but, anyway, the Taoiseach speaking here recently, declared what the view of the Government on the matter is, and he pointed out that the obligations which membership of the United Nations imposed on us and the commitments involved were fully set out in the Dáil by the then Taoiseach on 24th July, 1946. He said that the only change between the position then set out and the present position is that, as the experience of the Korean war showed, the commitments as envisaged under Article 43 of the Constitution of the U.N.O. are not mandatory. That has now been clearly stated.
I presume that the Taoiseach will, at a very early stage, make a statement on that whole question and, therefore, I do not think it would be proper for me, at this stage, to take advantage of this Estimate to announce beforehand what the general policy of the Government is. It has been set out by him already and, as far as I am concerned, there is no change.
Deputy McQuillan, in his speech, gave a few rattles as to the proportion of officers to men and the proportion of civilians to officers and men. He forgets that the Defence Forces are much more elaborate than the permanent force and that the present day strength of the Defence Forces, as such, works out at about 47,000 all ranks. If he starts working out his proportion on these figures, he will find that the ratio will be considerably higher. There is an increase this year in the effective first line Reserve of over 500 men. That is something that we can be satisfied with and I should like, when these comparisons of officers and civilians in relation to men are drawn, that figure to be taken into consideration. We must be ready, on any occasion, to put the whole machinery into operation at once and you cannot start scrapping parts of it, and doing one thing, and then another, at different times.
I am very proud of the F.C.A. and I think it is a very effective force. I would not like any political tinge to be brought into it. It is a volunteer force, composed of all parts and sections of the community, and it is rendering very valuable service to the nation. May it long continue to do so. It would be a pity that anyone might do something or say something to make that force less effective.
While I am now on this matter, I should like to say that the design of the F.C.A. uniform is at present under very active consideration. When the design has been agreed upon, the uniforms will be manufactured from the improved cloth which I propose to put into them. I then appeal to the members of the F.C.A. not to abuse that uniform. It is the uniform of the State and the country and a uniform of which they should be proud. It is not the colour of the uniform or of the Flag itself that counts; it is what it stands for. The uniform these men wear stands for the nation.
A number of speakers here asked what was the use of the Army and what was its value. I think that should be clearly understood by this stage. The Army of this nation, and of every nation, is the gallant protector of the sovereignty and independence of the country to which it belongs. The uniform which soldiers wear is the symbol of the country to which they belong. It is a very important part of the nation's organisation.
In this country, as in every other country, the armed forces of the nation are the custodians of the nation's sovereignty and independence. When an officer accepts a commission in the Army he has vested in himself the power and the authority to defend the honour and independence of his nation. They are in his hands and he has to defend them with his life and with his rifle. Let me clarify that. If we are invaded and if the civil Government is knocked out completely and has to go into exile, as has happened in the last war elsewhere, where rests the authority or the sovereignty of the State? It rests in the commissioned officers of the Army. It is they who in the last analysis will have to negotiate and conclude either a truce or a treaty with the opposing forces, and no power on earth has any right to exercise that except the Army officers of the State commissioned by the elected Government of the country. In them and in them alone rests that authority.
No body of men, no matter how patriotic they think they are, have any right to speak or act in the name of the Irish people or in the name of any country except the duly elected Government or, failing them, the duly commissioned officers of the Army. If the whole personnel of the Army is killed, brass hats and all, down to the last junior lieutenant with his unit up in the hills, say, of Connemara or Donegal, in him and in that unit is vested the sovereignty of this country and it is he who has to negotiate that truce and that treaty. That is a very important matter and that is why an army is required in this or any other country because they are the final arbitrators and the final defenders of the country's rights and the country's authority to exist as a nation.