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

I have a number of questions. I will concentrate first on the Minister of State's presentation. There are a range of other issues, but there are obvious contradictions in the Government's approach in working with military alliances which are non-neutral. There are also contradictions in committing to enhancing capabilities in Europe while not being able to deliver on existing capabilities and commitments in this country, such as the air ambulance service the Minister of State just mentioned being an aid to the civil powers. Given the state of the Defence Forces at the moment, it cannot, in any shape or form, fully deliver on the aid that was delivered in the past to the civil power in the event of humanitarian disasters, flooding or other operations. There are also issues in fishery protection.

There are contradictions in making commitments in Europe on the Common Defence and Security Policy, in the European Defence Fund, the European Peace Facility, the European Defence Agency, the military planning and conduct capability, or the co-ordinated annual review of defence. The Government and its predecessors have committed to these repeatedly, and each ties Ireland to enhancing its capabilities, yet there has not been delivery on our emerging needs. More and more demands are being set on men and women in the Defence Forces who are already overstretched and finding it difficult to deliver on their day-to-day commitments as soldiers or Air Corps and Naval Service personnel.

We have had the argument about PESCO and I will not go back over it again. How many officials or members of the Defence Forces are committed to the existing projects as observers in PESCO projects? The Minister of State mentioned that the Council recommendations on PESCO commitments provide "a more objective and detailed basis for assessing whether PESCO participants are meeting their commitments". Are we meeting the commitments? Will we meet them in the forthcoming year, given the chaos in the Defence Forces and a budget, presented last week that was not advanced for the Defence Forces?

The final list of the second tranche of PESCO projects will be formally approved next month. Has the Minister of State that list? Will he provide the committee with the indicative list of the second tranche of PESCO projects so that we can have some evaluation of whether Ireland should opt in to these projects?

In the co-ordinated annual review on defence, CARD, I presume we are getting a red card. One of the commitments in the proposed CARD is that it would have the ability to look at the defence budget and make recommendations and assess it annually. I do not believe it is fully operational but, given that the budget has been delivered, has there been any informal comment, because it was an informal meeting, from the other Ministers for defence relating to the defence budget?

The European Union Military Committee has to do with military mobility, and even though the Minister of State cannot even get planes or helicopters off the ground or ships out of port, he is signing up to military mobility. The European Union Military Committee, the military command of the EU army, has prepared a military requirements document which is under review. Will the Minister of State supply the committee with a copy of that document so that we, as parliamentarians, can have some input into Ireland's approach to that document, or at least come back to him on it in the near future? It is anticipated that the document or the military mobility issue will be discussed at the European foreign affairs committee in November, so it is a short period between now and then.

A sum of €13 billion is to be dedicated to the European Defence Fund. I have criticised Ireland having anything to do with enhancing defence research in this way while there are major issues in terms of people dying of starvation and dying at sea on their way to Europe. What is being committed? Is there any commitment? What is the effect in Ireland of that €13 billion defence fund?

In terms of EU-NATO co-operation, the Minister of State mentioned that Ireland is a member of the Partnership for Peace, a part of NATO in his words, yet we are supposed to be a neutral country. There is a contradiction in that.

The Minister of State mentioned that Ireland is a neutral state. Has the Minister of State expressed this and why are we still a member of an organisation that is not neutral?

The meeting was an informal one. I do not understand why this meeting is informal and why the others are formal. If it was an informal meeting, has the Minister of State discussed with his EU counterparts, as other members have alluded to, how they have overcome issues around retention of personnel and the failure to retain recruits in particular? A large number of recruits apply, that number is whittled down through the selection process and then the Defence Forces have the required number. These recruits, however, continually leave. Has the Minister of State discussed this retention issue with his counterparts with regard to the European working time directive or trade union membership? Those are quite pertinent issues that I have raised in the context of the chemical poisoning of members of the Air Corps. Other EU countries have also been and are addressing these types of issues. A Dáil motion was passed on the use of Lariam and all of the counterparts would, at this stage, have ended their use of Lariam as a drug of first choice to deal with malaria.