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

I am talking about the existing one. This is an image of Ireland of which we should be very proud. When people come to Ireland to find out whether they can visit our peacekeeping college, they certainly should not be blocked from doing so. They should be encouraged to visit it and be told how we train people because this is like the gospel. One tries to spread it. What would the Minister of State think if somebody came to visit and if it were made difficult for him or her to visit a peacekeeping college? What would he think about that? I am sorry the officials are distracting him. I am trying to ask a straight question here and I include the officials in this. What would they think if they went to a country and wanted to visit a peacekeeping college and somebody would not let them into it? What would they think of that? It is totally contradictory in terms of what this is about. What happened was an absolute disgrace that should never be allowed to happen again. It was a total embarrassment to this Parliament, its Members and the Minister of State. I am sure he was not made aware of it but it was a total embarrassment. We are sending people out on peacekeeping missions. I am referring to one of the major powers in the Middle East, which should be encouraged in the context of what it is doing. It has entered into an agreement, opened its doors and said that it is not developing nuclear weapons. I asked a direct question so let us get over it and stop playing this big game about Iran and Israel. I do not mean the Minister of State or any of his officials. We know what this game is about. It is about vested interests in the US. We know that but we should not be part of it.

Our role as peacekeepers should never be interfered with. Being involved in NATO battle groups damages our reputation in that area. We go by the UN flag and when we go abroad and see the blue berets and our people wearing them, we are proud of that. That is good enough for us. Getting sucked into battle groups and an EU defence policy will only damage us. This is what happened in Great Britain. We should learn a lesson. People are getting very nervous. We have an un-elected President who attends G8 meetings and a foreign secretary, or whatever she is called, who was not elected by anybody either. They both attend important G8 meetings. What happened to the days when we held the Presidency for six months and were very proud of it? Ireland's reputation was huge. People came here to learn from how we ran the Presidency. One never hears about it now because we have an un-elected President so there has been a total move towards Europe and the next thing, we will be told about a European army. I am sorry but we should learn a lesson from Brexit and the nervousness in Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden. It is linked to this. There are people who would like us to be involved in a NATO set up. I do not want to be so involved. I want to be deeply involved in the UN and peacekeeping. That is where we belong. We should always ensure that our Defence Forces have sufficient funds to be able to participate in these peacekeeping missions, regardless of whether they are ten, 20 or, as in the case of Lebanon, 200-person missions. This is very important to us. I was annoyed that I was late for this meeting. It was my fault because I thought it was to commence at 11 a.m.

It is so important for us to get the opportunity, because we very seldom do, to debate in the House the importance of this matter to Ireland. I do not mind if people disagree with me but it is important to me that we have a platform to say how important it is that nobody interferes or damages our independent role in the United Nations and peacekeeping. I ask that the Minister of State ensures that the peacekeeping college gets what it needs as long as he is in the Department because what it does is worth a fortune. It is telling that the United States of America sent its key personnel to the college, admittedly nearly 20 years ago, to learn about peacekeeping.