Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Secretary General for coming into the committee and for his presentation. I have a number of specific questions, the most important of which is that the issue of neutrality is not mentioned in the presentation or in what I can see in the information we have here. In a previous strategy document, we had to fight for it to be mentioned. If the Government is going to drop the idea of Ireland being a neutral country and declaring it in policy paper after policy paper, we should have that discussion. What seems to be happening is that military neutrality is being dropped as a policy by stealth and by just not mentioning it. Will Mr. Quinn outline that? Will he give a commitment that the strategy statement will include neutrality somewhere in its pages?

I was the one who asked for this session because we received correspondence and were asked to make a submission within a matter of days of the closing date. I know these things happen. The Secretary General outlined the process and that he has to do this within six months of a new Minister being appointed. As soon as there is a new Minister in place, Mr. Quinn might write to the committee to say he is obliged to do this and then come before us to talk to us about our concerns.

We have concerns, which are shared by Mr. Quinn, about the ongoing issue of personnel and recruiting personnel in an economy that will, it is hoped, reach full employment and what we can do to hold on to key personnel. When extra payments to pilots are cut, it means that there are more attractive opportunities for them in private enterprise.

There were reports of the British Army giving us second-hand equipment. Will Mr. Quinn clarify that? In respect of training at The Curragh for peacekeeping, I am concerned that we would get second-hand equipment for our troops from anybody. Getting second-hand equipment is not ideal. I know we invest a huge amount in equipment in terms of armoured personnel and the equipment our troops wear for their personal protection on peacekeeping duties and rightly so. Will Mr. Quinn outline the reports around that?

Are there any plans regarding getting aircraft, such as multipurpose helicopters, that would be able to provide security in our airspace? What is the real story behind the ongoing controversy about who knew what and when regarding the right of or invitation to air forces from the UK to come into Irish airspace in a case of a 9-11 situation where an aircraft has been hijacked that the UK air force believed might be a security threat to it?