Defence (Amendment) Act 2021
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Insertion of new section 17A in Principal Act | ||
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2. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 17: | ||
“Operational control | ||
17A. (1) In this section— | ||
‘Act of 2006’ means the Defence (Amendment) Act 2006 ; | ||
‘Force Commander’ means the person commanding an international force; | ||
‘international force’ means an International United Nations Force or any force to which a contingent or a member of the Defence Forces may be assigned to for service outside the State for any purpose specified in section 3 of the Act of 2006; | ||
‘International United Nations Force’ has the same meaning as in the Act of 2006; | ||
‘operational control’ means the authority delegated to a Force Commander in respect of a contingent assigned to him or her so that the Force Commander may— | ||
(a) accomplish certain missions or tasks which are limited by function, time or location, | ||
(b) deploy the contingent, and | ||
(c) retain or assign tactical control of the contingent, | ||
but does not include the authority to assign separate employment of any component of the contingent. | ||
(2) In accordance with this Act, the Minister may delegate to a Force Commander the operational control of a contingent, or member, of the Defence Forces. | ||
(3) A delegation of operational control by the Minister under subsection (2) may be subject to such exceptions and limitations as he or she, having had regard to such requirements as may be necessary for the efficient operation of the mission concerned, may from time to time determine. | ||
(4) A delegation of operational control by the Minister under subsection (2) shall— | ||
(a) be in writing, | ||
(b) be issued to the Force Commander of the mission concerned, | ||
(c) in so far as is necessary for the efficient operation of a mission, provide that each member of the Defence Forces assigned to an international force led by a Force Commander shall comply with every lawful order issued to him or her by a member of the international force in his or her military chain of command, subject to any exclusion as may be specified in the delegation, | ||
(d) in so far as is necessary for the efficient operation of a mission, provide that the military police component of the international force under the authority of the Force Commander may arrest and detain a member of the Defence Forces, provided that such member is handed over as soon as practicable to the contingent commander, or the designated senior officer, of the Defence Forces, | ||
(e) provide that each member of the Defence Forces in respect of whom the delegation is made shall cooperate with the military police component of the international force, and | ||
(f) include any other ancillary provisions as he or she considers necessary for the efficient operation of the mission concerned.”. |