Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Will you let me answer the question? I have said that in the context of war on our Continent, Ireland needs to look in an honest way at how we both invest in and plan for the defence of our State, with respect to the protection of our own sovereignty and how we contribute to the collective security of the EU of which we are part. We need to have that debate in the months ahead, which I think the Taoiseach has also suggested we do. The answer to that for me is more partnership, more willingness to work and train with other countries so we are interoperable should we need to be and more investment in our Defence Forces so we can increase our own capacity rather than having a reliance on others with core defence issues. What we need is less isolation and more partnership. Do I believe we need to join a formal defence alliance? No, I am not proposing that. However, we should certainly be open to more co-operation, more partnership and ensuring Ireland plays its part in the collective security of the EU, which unfortunately is under threat right now from Russian aggression in Ukraine, and of course threats to EU members states are also coming from Moscow at the moment.