Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is not all about ships. We are not equipped right now to deal with that so we have to address the issue. We need to get our mindset away from conventional thinking. This is something I am stressing to the military as well. The modern threats are much different from what we think we know of military in terms of battle groups and ships, etc. We will need more brainpower on the cybersecurity front. We will need a lot more work on technical expertise and how we develop resilience for the country's key assets. We are part of the European Union. As Senator Craughwell said, we have to protect our foreign direct investment edifice within the country. We have to be open and then we have to look at the traditionally strong points. I come from the party of Frank Aiken who was the first signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, NPT. I value the strength of Irish independent foreign policies in areas of nuclear disarmament. I spoke yesterday in Geneva at the disarmament conference and also the Human Rights Council. Ireland has a bona fide international voice because of our independent foreign policy and peacekeeping. Our voice is particularly respected regarding the NPT. I do not want to lose that but that also goes into the mix in any debate we have. This discussion should be devoid of trying to put people into corners and saying that if one does not back this mantra or sound bite then one is not sound on the national question. It used to be a good one long ago, that somebody was considered "not sound" on the national question if they did not agree with certain views. The same can be said of neutrality, that one is not sound if one does not agree with certain viewpoints. The issue is much broader than that, in my opinion. We need to look at the strengths of what we have been doing since the foundation of the State, keep those strengths and maintain our strength in diplomacy.

Earlier I mentioned investment in the international courts systems and holding warring countries and people who commit atrocities to account. We cannot do everything but we have certain roles that we can do well. Diplomacy is one of those and I agree with the Deputy on this point. When we say we want a discussion or when we review a particular UN mission it does not mean that it is something to do with neutrality. Similarly the fact that we are part of common security and defence which we have been for a long time does not mean that we are on the pathway to military alignment. It is a much broader question than whether we join NATO or not. I do not think NATO is waiting around with bated breath for Ireland to join. That is not the issue. Do we need expertise on some of these issues? The answer is yes. We have to be open to receiving such expertise.