Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I apologise that I could not be here before this point. If the Minister of State has already covered something I ask, I can check it in the Official Report. I have a number of points. Our review of Irish Aid, which we discussed last night and will debate today, is looking at the aid and development aid agenda and the tremendous reputation Ireland has as a humanitarian country. It is all about our aid, where it is targeted, the way in which it is untied and the way in which we are so well respected. I still believe that being part of PESCO is undermining that. We are playing with our neutrality.

We are now taking part in an EU military training mission. How much of that will be about our peacekeeping operations? How much will be about what we have been about and not getting caught up in something that has never been part of our agenda? I feel there is a real danger of us being involved in unjust conflicts and I have serious concerns around that.

We discussed our Navy in the Mediterranean during a Topical Issue debate this week. I was delighted to hear what the Minister of State said and I accept that our Navy is not bringing any refugees it finds in boats back to Libya. Our Navy will have to stand by and look at inappropriate behaviour by the Libyan coastguard which is bringing everyone it finds back to Libya and back to detention centres that an EU delegation has suggested should be closed down as soon as possible. There are boats with refugees on them and when they see the Libyan coastguard, an NGO boat or one of the Navy boats, there is a race to get to our Navy or to an NGO boat before the Libyan coastguard can get them. Our Navy will be standing by helpless in situations it is not part of. They are supposed to be involved in the training of the Libyan coastguard yet the eyewitness accounts coming from reputable people who have been there - I spoke to a medic who is just back from working on a ship and working in the detention centres - is that the behaviour of the Libyan coastguard is at times aggressive and brutal. We are putting our Navy in a terrible situation by being part of Operation Sophia.

I am sure someone has raised my last issue. Will we be supporting the UN Secretary General's call for an independent inquiry into what has been happening in Israel-Palestine and the number of Palestinian civilians who were shot by the Israeli army?