Vol. 414 No. 1
7 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for Defence if he will outline (1) the procedures for communicating with the media by (a) his Department and (b) the Defence Forces (2) the number of staff, by rank, who are so involved (3) whether statements are cleared or approved and by whom and (4) if it is proposed to create command and corps press officers; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
In my Department, an assistant principal officer deals with communications with the media on a part-time basis. Routine inquiries are normally dealt with without formal reference to any higher authority. Where necessary, approval for statements is normally given by the head of the section dealing with the subject matter. Any formal statements issued on behalf of the Minister would, of course, be cleared by me in advance.
Within the Defence Forces, media communications are handled by the Defence Forces press officer — a commandant — who has a deputy holding the rank of captain and a staff of one sergeant. The Defence Forces press officer has a delegated authority to make statements in response to media inquiries about military matters which do not have major financial or policy implications. Again, in practice, the majority of inquiries are dealt with without formal reference to higher authority for approval.
In each of the four Army Commands and in the Air Corps and Naval Service, officers are appointed as part-time press officers. In addition, in certain circumstances, a commander in an operational situation may make factual statements to the media pertaining to his own immediate command.
Quite separately, Defence Forces regulations give the two representative associations which have been established to represent military personnel on pay and certain conditions of service the right to make statements to the media on matters which fall within the scope of the system of representation. There is, of course, no obligation to obtain official clearance for such statements.
The arrangements now in place for communicating with the media are working well and there are no plans to institute changes or to appoint further press officers within the Defence Forces.
One of the submissions to the Gleeson Commission noted the absence of official recognition for the magazine, An Cosantóir. In the light of this, may I ask the Minister if the publishers of An Cosantóir are responsible to the Chief of Staff as opposed to the branch? May I further ask the Minister if he is in a position to send the Opposition spokespersons a copy of each issue?
The area of media relations was referred to in the report of the Gleeson Commission which recommended that in that area the military authorities should be given greater discretionary authority within settled policy guidelines. The arrangements now in place for dealing with the media broadly conform with the Gleeson recommendations and the great majority of media inquiries are dealt with by the Defence Forces press office without any reference to the Minister or anybody in the Department. The Defence Forces press office, which formerly formed part of the Office of the Director of Intelligence, now forms part of a new public relations section which reports to the assistant Chief of Staff. Regulations to formalise these arrangements are now being finalised.
Can the Minister advise the House as to when these new arrangements were put in place and the number of statements issued by the General Headquarters press corps to the media since then?
I do not have that information.
It is very specialist information and perhaps worthy of a separate question.
The Minister is indicating that he does not have the information in any event but may I put it to him that there is no appreciation or manifestation of this so-called independent Army press corps outside of their own office? I do not think any of us has ever received a statement from them.
I was struck when I entered the Department by the number of press people not only within the Department but at military level. The associations have their own format for conveying their statements and views to the media. To date there has been no shortage of opportunities available to the military or the Department to issue their own statements. I do not have the figure for the number of press statements released.
Will the Minister get it for me?
I will make inquiries.
A final question from Deputy Ryan.
I asked the Minister if a copy of each issue of An Cosantóir could be given to each of the spokespersons. Will he facilitate us in that regard?
Has the Deputy made that request before?
No.
I will look after that matter for Deputy Ryan.
