Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank all those who have contributed. The situation around security events is not a stark one. It is more the case that there are real choices and priorities to address. It is true that Europe came out of a project of peace. The wonderful thing about Europe was that after literally thousands of years of conflict, countries which had experienced in some cases hundreds of years of war against each other decided to come together to determine how to live together more peacefully and constructively. That is absolutely true. However, while there is an incredible legacy of peace in the European project, being European and being part of the European project means thinking about that constant question of how we live together. It is about being critically present and asking critical questions, as the witnesses have. That is part of being pro-European. It is about caring enough about Europe to care about the decisions it makes.

There are very important decisions being made and there are priorities and concerns. It was a decision for Ireland to opt into PESCO. Ireland was not required to opt in, rather it chose to do so. PESCO moved us further away by involving us, for example, in joint purchases of military equipment. Ireland has an incredibly strong tradition of peace and neutrality and of leading disarmament. One of the most moving things I have ever been involved with was the global ban on cluster bombs, which are basically like landmines. The global ban was negotiated here in Ireland because Ireland was free from some of the military-industrial pressures experienced by other countries and was able to lead the way. It is not a choice between Ireland and our neutrality and Europe. It is about Ireland being a voice for peace, neutrality and disarmament within Europe. That is a key point. It is a service we provide. It was Eamon Gilmore, a former Irish parliamentarian, who represented the European Commission in Colombia to negotiate the peace deal. That is because Ireland's neutrality allowed us to have that strong voice.

We cannot turn a blind eye to militarisation. It is a disservice to Ireland and Europe if we do. It was very concerning that, just two weeks ago, the European Parliament voted against having oversight of the €13 billion European Defence Fund. That is the European Parliament choosing not to scrutinise what that fund is spent on. Will it be on autonomous weapons? How does it relate to UN mandates? We must question constantly. When we have global challenges for Europe and the world like climate change, which we will discuss later, we must ask whether we should be spending €13 billion on European defence. I do not think so. Peace and security are put together. Peace is work. We know that from the Good Friday Agreement. The work of peace is about investment in community building, understanding and social exchange. If we spent some of that €13 billion to build understanding between communities, not just here in Ireland but across the Balkan states which have come out of an experience of war as recently as the 1990s, that would deliver far more than to ramp up military spending on our borders and invest huge amounts in Frontex. As was mentioned, it is a real concern to see these immigration control deals whereby we are funding border police and military actions in places like Sudan and Libya. Those are things we need to look to. These are very important choices.

It is important to note that the current Commission is an outgoing one. We will have a new European Commission soon and it needs to hear from the witnesses about their priorities. Among the priorities the outgoing Juncker Commission has brought to today's European Council meeting on the future of Europe, what it calls "protective Europe" is number one. That means a European defence union. We must be very clear that there are high-level people in Europe who want a European army. However, that is not the same thing as saying Europe wants a European army. There are also brilliant parliamentarians and passionate Europeans from every member state of the EU 27 who want to work together on peace. That is the narrative we can push and strengthen. I would love to hear in response what the witnesses think the work of peace should be. It is not just about saying we do not want militarisation. What is the work of peace? That is the work from Good Friday and the work we have seen across the world. How does Ireland lead the work of peace within Europe to make Europe a champion on human rights and peace? It is a real choice. We cannot do that while also spending €13 billion on a European Defence Fund which we do not scrutinise. We must all challenge these issues because we want Europe to live up to its brilliant and historic past and to shape a better future. The following point is very important. In the initial PESCO agreement, the words "peace" and "peacekeeping" were not even used once. We need something that is not the PESCO agreement but which is rather a European mandate on peace work. That should be the centrepiece of Europe's next five-year strategy. I would love to hear the witnesses' thoughts on that work of peace.