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

The presentation was very detailed and my questions are quite specific. There has been an increase in the defence budget but it would appear that there has been a bigger increase for capital expenditure. The Minister of State might clarify that. We know there are outstanding issues in respect of pay for the Defence Forces. We are hearing about the numbers who are leaving and so on, yet we value our Defence Forces so highly. How high a priority is it to address those outstanding issues that have been allowed to develop for quite a while?

I had a question with the Department about the possibility of buying an MRV vehicle. I am told it is not being bought and ask for the Minister of State to clarify that also.

How are we going to pay for PESCO? We know it is a considerable cost. Will that come from the defence budget? Could the Minister of State explain what exactly is meant by the principle of added value? What are these capabilities that we are going to be investing in?

I cannot help but be struck by the irony in the report, particularly in respect of NATO. On the one hand, we are saying we are very supportive and welcome greater EU-NATO co-operation, yet the end of the document states that this is not going to undermine our policy of neutrality. I do not understand how those two sentences could be put together in the one section of the document. It appears that we are being sucked or dragged, willingly or unwillingly, into greater military co-operation. I wonder about the six European countries that are not members of NATO. Do the relevant officials and Ministers from those countries get together and discuss how they can maintain neutrality?

Some Deputies having been addressing my next point during the pre-European Council statements in the Dáil this week. It is the arms trade that is fuelling the conflict situations in the world. We will be hearing informally later from somebody from Yemen. It is the arms trade from the US to Saudi Arabia, facilitated also by Britain, France and Germany, that is continuing the conflict not just in Yemen but in other countries as well. Is there anybody at these Council meetings who is addressing that with Britain, France and Germany? Is anybody raising the point that they are continuing these wars by conducting an arms trade that is so lucrative for them?