Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----and gaining confidence. Will arriving with lorries full of guns and equipment improve peacekeeping? Leave that to others. We are a small country with expertise in peacekeeping. We have a small Permanent Defence Force and it is very good at what it is trained to do. It is a tradition for Irish people to participate in peacekeeping. It is about building connections with the local communities that we are there to protect. It is part and parcel of all these efforts. We will agree to differ. We are losing our way because we have become one of the guys who want to join the battle groups. Even the term "battle group" is wrong for a so-called peacekeeping mission. It is all wrong. What is the thinking behind it? As we are in the European Union we think we must get involved with all aspects of EU activity but we do not. We are excluded from much of the military involvement in a European sense because we wish to be. Let us keep to what we are good at and get on with it.