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

It is splitting hairs to say there is no additional cost for PESCO but we will be contributing to certain projects within PESCO. Money will be needed for PESCO.

On the arms trade, the EU is the biggest development aid donor. It is okay for the EU to give such aid to the countries most in need of it because of poverty, hunger conflict and so on. However, at the same time other EU countries continue to fuel an arms trade which facilitates bombing of such countries and the creation of such problems. People are not talking to each other. The Minister of State stated that the defence industry is a lucrative employer, etc. However, he should look at the extent of the damage caused by the arms trade throughout the world.