Rose Conway-Walsh Demands Committee Remit for National Security
Rose Conway-Walsh challenged the minister over the committee's lack of remit to scrutinise national security. She urged an extension of the Committee on Defence and National Security's order of reference to allow effective oversight of the national security strategy and readiness for the EU presidency.
Remit request and procedural steps
The speaker told the minister that the committee has sought for months to have an extension of remit to enable it to examine national security policy. She said the committee had followed procedures, contacted the Committee on Justice and the Committee on Finance, and submitted its submission to the Committee on Standing Orders and Dole Reform to extend the order of reference.
Committee expertise and oversight needs
She emphasised the committee's cross-party expertise, citing Deputy Catherine Callaghan and Senators Tom Clonan and Gerard Crawwell, and argued the committee must be allowed to do its job in a wholesome and effective way. She warned that without the national security element the Committee on Defence and National Security would be cut off from essential oversight.
Concerns about readiness and spending
The speaker highlighted serious issues around readiness for the EU presidency and signalled concerns about significant expenditure that require proper oversight and security. She asked the minister to use everything within his remit to ensure the committee can carry out national security scrutiny.
Minister's response on departmental remit
The minister responded that the decision reflects current standing orders and the departmental structure, noting the national security strategy sits with the Department of Taoiseach. He said matters arising from the Department of Defence can be discussed by the committee, while elements falling under the Department of Justice or the National Cyber Security Authority would not fall within his remit. He said he would discuss and raise matters that fit within his remit, including the maritime security strategy and Defence Forces work.
Next steps and parliamentary implications
The speaker indicated other members would raise the issue in their contributions and reiterated the committee's need to perform oversight without being forced into piecemeal accountability. The exchange leaves the committee awaiting further procedural decisions on extending its remit so it can examine national security policy comprehensively.
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At the outset, I want to wish you well with your new role, your very important role that you have as Minister. Just before I go to the members, I want to flag to you the issue that this committee has as Defence and National Security, and we have sought for months now to have an extension of remit for the committee to enable us to be able to do the national security element of our committee in an effective and an efficient manner, and we have been constrained by that by not having the extended remit. Now, we have gone through all the procedures, including the contacting of the other relevant committees, which is the Committee on Justice and also the Committee on Finance, and have got agreement from them. So, we have obviously submitted our submission to the Committee on Standing Orders and Dole Reform to extend that order of reference to the committee to facilitate the examination of national security policy. We are very lucky on this committee in that we have expertise within the committee across party. We have Deputy Catherine Callaghan, who has experience in the Air Corps. We have Senator Tom Clonan and Senator Gerard Crawwell, and we want to be able to do our job effectively. So, I would ask you to do everything within your remit to ensure that no more than you can do your job, that we can do our job here. We have some very serious issues, as you know, in terms of our readiness for the EU presidency, but we're also weighting the national security strategy, and we need to be able to have oversight of that. Otherwise, there's no point in calling a Committee on Defence and National Security if we're cut from doing the national security part of that. So, I would just ask you to, I mean, can you comment on that? So, my understanding is that the decision was obviously taken based on the current standing orders, but also the current structures of the committees based on the departments themselves. So, while the national security strategy will be under the remit of the Department of Taoiseach, any of the elements that come from the Department of Defence are matters that we could discuss here, but more broadly, if it is the National Cyber Security Authority or anything else that fits under the Department of Justice, it wouldn't be within my remit. So, I'm very happy to discuss, obviously, any of the matters that fit within my overall remit, be it the maritime security strategy, which will obviously fit into a national security strategy, be it elements of the work that the Defence Forces are doing. So, I can absolutely discuss this and raise this, but my understanding is that it is very much aligned with the departments themselves, so whatever is not within my own remit, I won't be able to go outside of that, but very happy to discuss any of the elements that fit within my own remit. I appreciate that, Minister, but you can see that we're trying to do our job in a piecemeal fashion. We need very much, there's a lot of money being spent here. We need proper oversight and security, and we need to be able to do our job in a wholesome way and an effective way, but I'm sure other members will raise that in their contributions as well. I'm going to… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
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