Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On the Business Committee, I will not debate whether it is right or wrong. I am on the committee and was at the meeting. It is up to each Department to inform the Government Chief Whip when it would like motions to be taken. This was not on the list of indicative business which the Government Chief Whip had. Why this happened is a matter between the Minister of State and the Government Chief Whip.

I will try to go slowly this time. I asked what the minimum standards required are. At the outset the Minister of State said that Malta did not achieve the minimum standards. Does that mean that it asked or that is was excluded or what happened? That is one question which was not answered. Can we opt out of PESCO? The Minister of State has said that it is totally voluntary. It may be totally voluntary to join, but once we have joined can we opt out? Are penalties imposed if we do so? The Minister of State has said that there could be expense involved but that we are not fully committed to it. If there is expense involved, is a financial resolution required to allow this motion to pass? Any measure which has funding implications is supposed to have a financial resolution associated with it.

Will the Minister of State again confirm what is expected of Ireland in terms of the basic commitments for joining PESCO? I am not referring to the operations or the missions. I read out details of some such missions and others have been alluded to. What exactly are the commitments? Are they as stated in the briefing document which we received in terms of increasing our military capacity and military spend, co-operating with the EU European Defence Agency and so on? Will it be a requirement to make our troops available for deployment as part of PESCO missions that-----