Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I have two points. The Minister has said that Irish neutrality is safe in his hands. He did not say those words but that is the gist of it. The problem here is that I do not believe that. There are other parties and other Deputies in the House, and plenty of people in society, who do not believe that. We could point to many examples, but none that illustrates the point more clearly than what has been happening at Shannon Airport for many a long year. The question raised by Deputy Farrell is a very strong point. Why would the Minister introduce a policy that is never going to be used and will never have any consequences, unless it is going to be used at some stage and it does have some consequences. One could flip it on its head and say that because it is never going to be used and because it is never going to have any consequences we are not going to bring it in.