THE PRESIDENT IS to convene the Council of State over the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024, which will preclude the Irish Defence Forces from publicly questioning or commenting on government defence policy. 

The Council of State is a body provided for in the Constitution for the purpose of aiding and counselling the President.

PDFORRA, which represents rank and file members across the Irish Air Corps, the Naval Service and Army along with the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (RACO) have previously denounced the Bill.

RACO, in February, told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence that it believes the amendment is “draconian”.

The representative bodies have taken issue with the makeup of the External Oversight Body as its membership includes the Secretary General of the Department of Defence. 

According to a statement this evening, the question President Michael D Higgins will ask the Council of State to consider is:

“Whether the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024 should be referred by the President to the Supreme Court for a decision on the question as to whether the Bill or any specified provision or provisions thereof are repugnant to the Constitution or to any provision thereof.”

The particular line in the Amendment, that the representative bodies have taken issue with, was highlighted by RACO in February.

It states that members of the Defence Forces “shall not question or express an opinion on the merits of any policy of the Government or a Minister of the Government or on the merits of the objectives of such policy”.

PDFORRA told the Oireachtas earlier this year that the organisation and its members, have “always accepted the need for political impartiality; however, this provision limits the ability of members to speak or give an opinion to any political organization, society or grouping”.

The representative body highlighted how, under the proposals, members of the Defence Forces could face military charges for speaking out when dissatisfied with the nation’s health service or attending a public demonstration.

“Soldiers are citizens in uniform and should be vested with the rights and entitlement of normal citizens while not in uniform,” they argued.

The Journal covered this issue in July last year when Daniel Murphy, who is the designated Adjudicator under the Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme for the Defence Forces, accused the Department of Defence of operating “secret laws”.

The accusation was included in a Department report published last year. He further accused the Department for having a “silly and facetious approach” to membership of representative bodies by military personnel.

President Higgins will meet with the Council of State at Áras an Uachtaráin on Monday at 2.30pm.

Includes reporting by Niall O’Connor.