Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being late. I thought we were beginning at 11 a.m., the misunderstanding is my fault.

I welcome the Minister and his officials. To follow on from his comment on the battle group, I think Ireland should be very proud of her ongoing involvement in peacekeeping missions, particularly the reputation we have gained from having the UNTSI peacekeeping college based in the Curragh and the image it gives the country.

I raised this matter briefly in the Dáil, and did so not wishing to be awkward. It is very unfortunate that we use the term "battle groups". Ireland is renowned and respected for its peacekeeping. I saw from my time as Minister for Defence how proud one would be when one went abroad to see the very important role we play in peacekeeping. We should retain that very carefully. We are a small nation but we have a lot of influence.

I tell this story from time to time. When I was Minister for Defence, I got a call one day from the US military attaché. He wanted to confirm if it would be in order to recommend to his superior officers in the United States that they should send key personnel from the US defence forces to our peacekeeping college. He told me they know nothing about peacekeeping. They recruit young men and women into the defence forces, they have the best equipment in the world, they teach them how to use it and they send them off on peacekeeping missions. That is no way to do peacekeeping missions. Anybody who has seen the way our personnel operate within communities, wherever they are, will know they become part of the community. It is the image. We do not need to stick out our chest and say our Army is in the battle group. This is more important. I do not know how much it costs to have our peacekeeping college but I am not questioning the cost. One could not buy the reputation it creates for Ireland in training people in peacekeeping. One cannot check it against cost. It is invaluable. Long may we continue to hold the superior role in peacekeeping. Whether we have a mission of 20 people here or our forces continue to serve in Lebanon, it is the influence that Ireland has in terms of peacekeeping.

When I served as Ceann Comhairle I visited Iran on the invitation of the Iranian ambassador. I spoke to the President, Mr. Rouhani. During the course of the interview I asked him a straight question, whether Iran was involved in developing nuclear weaponry. He looked at me and said that the answer to my question was no, for the one simple reason that it was contrary to their religious beliefs. I have listened to debates about the dangers of Iran. I asked that man straight to his face and I got a straight answer. The answer was no and he gave me the reason. We have spent a long period trying to bring peace to the Middle East by having our troops out there. This is an emerging country that has gone through the process with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and has come to a solution. It has the richest deposits of gas in the world and a population of almost 80 million people. It could do a tremendous amount for peacekeeping in that region if we encourage and persuade it.

I also spoke to the speaker of the Parliament, Mr. Larijani. I was not back a wet day when Mr. Larijani's people were on to me to know if it would be possible to visit Ireland. He wanted to visit the peacekeeping college. I had spoken to him about it and recommended strongly that Iran become the peacekeepers in the Middle East. When did Iran invade any county? Never. Iran was invaded by Iraq. We should be encouraging the current regime into peacekeeping. When Mr. Larijani arrived in Ireland he was blocked from going to the peacekeeping college. I had to meet the Minister in his office in Newbridge. What sort of nonsense is it that we would not allow the speaker of the Iranian Parliament to visit a peacekeeping college? That is why I am very nervous when I see the importance of NATO and the battle group in our setup.

Ireland is a small country with a population of 4.5 million but it punches its weight in terms of peacekeeping and is one of the most powerful peacekeeping nations in the world. Why is that the case? It is because of our reputation for training people in peacekeeping. It is also down to the troops we send abroad, who have their own method and tactics. I have seen them in operation and they are brilliant. Sometimes my wife used to come with me on those trips. She would be taken away into the villages as part of the exercise. This is something special. I am sorry to have to bring it up here but we must protect our reputation for peacekeeping very carefully. We do not want to be heroes tagging on to some battle group in Europe. For what purpose? Are we going to war? It is extremely important that our reputation for peacekeeping and for training people in the methods of peacekeeping should be protected very carefully.

How much does the peacekeeping college in the Curragh cost? I am not questioning the cost because one could not buy it but, for goodness sake, I hope I never have a repeat of what I saw in respect of the visitor from Iran. I thank the Minister of State and the staff that he brought over to meet with Mr. Larijani but this sort of stuff is incredible. That is the main purpose. Any other thing here is understandable but what we do in peacekeeping and the money we spend on training people and having that peacekeeping college does a lot for Ireland. As I said about the US, the military attaché stated that they knew nothing about peacekeeping. Why? It is because during his period here, he saw what we were achieving through the peacekeeping college. This is great for Ireland. When everybody else is trying to bring peace into the world, we are masters at it and have been doing it since the 1950s when we went to the Congo. Let us not join the group because we are going into battle and we need bigger ships. We need to continue on the road of training our personnel to be the great peacekeepers of the world.