Gabrielle McFadden (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and his officials. I have to leave early as the Commissioner, Mr. Phil Hogan is in the Seanad Chamber at 11 a.m.

We are here today to discuss matters raised at the EU Foreign Affairs Council on defence and related matters. I refer to the Minister of State's opening statement on Operation Sophia. That work epitomises all that the Defence Forces stand for. The Minister of State spoke of 640 personnel who are serving overseas. How many of those are serving with Operation Sophia? How many deployments were part of Operation Sophia in 2018? They do phenomenal work and it is very serious. What happens to people when they are rescued through Operation Sophia? Where are they taken to?

The EU Foreign Affairs Council is to meet in the next couple of weeks. I am curious about what is on the agenda for that meeting.

I had not intended to talk about pay and conditions of Defence Forces personnel - I did not believe this meeting was about that - but I cannot allow anyone to use Defence Forces' pay and conditions as a political football, so I cannot leave it. I have always done-----