Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am conscious of the clock so I will be as quick as I can. I acknowledge the presence of the Defence Force veterans and their spouses in the Public Gallery. Many of the contributors pointed quite rightly to the excellent reputation of Irish peacekeepers overseas. That is because of the people sitting behind me, so well done to them. They are most welcome here any time at all.

I have four brief points to make. I know that the triple lock is not the entire focus of the motion before us, but many researchers read the transcripts of committee meetings so it is important to put on record that the three locks of the triple lock are Government decision, Oireachtas approval and UN mandate. I recognise the views of Deputy Brady and the Minister, and both sides of the argument are completely sincerely held. I am not too comfortable with the fact that Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping - or even Boris Johnson, in light of recent events - gets to decide where we send our troops. I think there is a bit of flexibility on the second lock, which is Oireachtas approval. At the moment Oireachtas approval is by simple majority, so a simple majority in the Dáil unlocks the second lock. I think we can move towards a qualified majority of 55% or 60% or something like that, which would allow the Oireachtas to maintain the autonomy and the sovereignty of deploying our troops without compromising the safeguards built into the triple lock. Instead of a UN mandate being mandatory, we could have regard to a UN mandate. Obviously, a UN mandate would be preferable, and whether it exists or does not exist would sway the vote of a qualified majority in the Dáil Chamber. That is probably a good way to go. I offer that freely, and the researchers or party researchers can deal with it as they see fit.

My first question is about Ukraine. We know that conflicts do not last for ever, but this one will go on for quite some time. Is there any planning from a post-conflict point of view? There is a lot of expertise in the Defence Forces in demining, demolition of explosive ordnance and even investigation of war crimes and reconstruction. Does the military have any spare capacity or contingency planning done in case a request comes in? Do we have capacity to assist the international community from a reconstruction point of view?

My second question is about strategic airlift. I know I have been hounding the Minister on this for the past few years. He mentioned we have troops scattered all over the world. My concern is that we do not have any means to get to them in the event of a crisis. I know that is a concern of the Minister's as well. The memo to come to the Government, if it comes on Tuesday week, as he suggests, is a golden opportunity to grasp this nettle and to make a recommendation that we need at least one aircraft that will be able to reach our people overseas if they get into trouble.

We have never had that capability in the past, particularly in the past 100 years. It would be a great capability to have and we should be focused on that.

My final question relates to the Reserve Defence Force overseas. I am glad both sides brought it up. I am very much in favour of it and welcome the recent course overseas for the Reserve Defence Force. The Minister may or may not be aware that a proposal is going around to the effect that Reserve Defence Force personnel can only be activated for a maximum of a 90-day period. To me, that is completely unworkable. A person going overseas, even as a member of the Permanent Defence Force regulars, will spend six weeks in preparatory training before deploying. If there is a 90-day cap on Reserve Defence Force personnel heading overseas, they will only be able to form up for six weeks and deploy for six weeks. These people are either in the military or they are not. They are either members of the Defence Forces or they are not. If a full tour of duty is six months, I do not see why a cap should apply. There is no cap on the Permanent Defence Force, for instance, and I do not understand they there should be one on the Reserve Defence Force.

Those are my views. I would be grateful to hear the Minister's thoughts on the triple lock, strategic airlift, Ukraine and the Reserve Defence Force.