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

I thank the Minister of State for his opening statement. He said these SOFAs will provide for the rights, obligations, entitlements etc. of our military personnel when deployed overseas, that there is no obligation to deploy or maintain personnel, that it will be a national sovereign decision, that ratifying this has no impact on our policy of military neutrality, and that we would not want to deprive Irish troops of entitlements and privileges to which other troops are entitled. If we consider the mission in Mali, however, for example, I do not know how anybody could call it a peacekeeping one. Regarding the footage we got when the Taoiseach was there, while the Irish Army were very impressive and professional in their work, overall, the Mali situation is a very different one, with Mali and the Sahel, the whole history of colonialism and mineral wealth being exploited by the colonial power, the current chaotic situation which was exacerbated by the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi, and all the volatility, corruption and peaceful protest being suppressed there. We can contrast Ireland's troops being there with work that is done through Ireland's humanitarian programme and our Irish Aid programme. There was such a contrast between what the Taoiseach visited in Mali and what we saw in Ethiopia. For me, there is a contradiction between the two.

I would be very wary of Ireland and the Irish Army being drawn into conflicts that have nothing to do with us. That is undermining the work that Ireland does in the humanitarian area where we are very much respected. It is also undermining our reputation in peackeeping operations. We are seeing the increasing European securitisation agenda. It is being matched now by this increasing militarisation in Africa. That is fuelling further conflict which is a contributory factor to poverty and displacement which lead to mass migration.

The Minister of State said that the Defence Forces will have immunities, rights and privileges while on peacekeeping and crisis management operations. How does Mali fit into that compared with the other peacekeeping operations that Ireland has been involved in? The Minister of State mentioned the German-led battle group that is coming up. He might expand a little on that. He mentioned that Ireland will not be receiving foreign troops based on its territory, but that is playing with words because we are facilitating the transit of troops. We see the way in which Shannon is being used. There are a number of ironies in what is being presented here today.