Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Devine. I agree with Irish neutrality. The EU has proven itself not to be a very democratic state when it comes to the foreign affairs agenda. I was in Rome when Ms Federica Mogherini was closing down the Mare Nostrum rescue mission in the Mediterranean, the obvious consequence of which was that people would die in the Mediterranean, but their idea was that if these people know there is no one to rescue them, they might not come, but thousands perished. She stated in Rome that day that her ambition was that the EU would replace the United States on the European borders in terms of intervening directly. Intervening in the Middle East the way the US has done is not something the EU should aim to have as one of its policies.

Dr. Devine brought up the issue of mutual defence and that we no longer have an opt-out in that regard. Does Dr. Devine have legal opinion on that? No one has given an opinion to this committee, and we are the defence committee, or anybody else to the effect that Ireland is committed to a mutual defence clause and that the derogations we got, from what Dr. Devine is saying, are useless. Could Dr. Devine supply the clerk and the Chairman with those opinions? Someone in the EU might supply those to her and indicate that Ireland is no longer a neutral state or that it has to intervene under the mutual defence clause. That would be very useful for the members of the committee.

I take exception to Dr. Devine's final statement that the real pigs are successive Irish leaders. That is unworthy of Dr. Devine. Former taoisigh Lynch, Cosgrave, FitzGerald, Haughey, Ahern and Cowen, and our current Taoiseach, were all democratically elected. They are the representatives of the people. It is not worthy of Dr. Devine to describe them as she has done. She has given us an excellent paper and great insight but to describe the former taoisigh and the current Taoiseach in such a manner in the foreign affairs is not acceptable. I have been a member of this committee for the past ten years and we have had many witnesses come before it with whom I have agreed and disagreed. The members are from Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and all sides of the House and it is unworthy of Dr. Devine to describe former taoisigh of this country in the way she has done. She can disagree with what they did in a manner that would be more respectful but on that issue, she should apologise.