John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Okay. I will speak to the EU training mission. The Minister is acutely aware of the difficulties in Mali and the involvement of the Wagner Group Russian mercenaries there. We were part of training troops in Mali and it is widely reported they were involved with all sorts of horrendous crimes, including murder and butchery, and that included members of the Wagner Group. The French have pulled out of that training mission and it has certainly put Irish troops in a difficult position.

What is the situation with that training mission? It must be said, as my party did at the outset, that it breached the triple lock mechanism we have in place. I know the Defence (Amendment) Act was introduced in 2006 to allow that type of training mission to take place but the training mission had no Dáil approval whatsoever to allow our troops to participate. Will the Minister give his view on that? It breached whatever limited safeguards we have in place with the triple lock because there was no Dáil approval.

I ask specifically about the triple lock, which gives us limited protections for our neutrality. The Minister and other members of the Government are on record saying they do not believe it is fit for purpose and there are serious challenges there. In light of the Minister's comments on the triple lock mechanism and the protections for our neutrality and deployment of troops abroad, what does he foresee being put in place if he and others in the Government had their way in abolishing the triple lock mechanism?