Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)

If we were debating legislation like that I am not sure it would be terribly controversial. There would be broad support for legislation that clarifies the entitlement of Ireland. I am not sure, in some instances, it is entirely necessarily. If it was believed to be necessary in the context of humanitarian rescue, drug interdiction and related matters, that would receive broad support. Unfortunately, for many of the reasons that Senator Clonan and other have articulated, there is a concern.

Ms Maguire has made clear the scope and decisions being subject to support of a Government majority. I acknowledge the point on safeguards but safeguards are a piece of paper. They have no legal standing as such. Who will be the arbiter of whether that safeguard is met? It will be the self-same Government that intends to deploy troops. I am not sure many people will take a lot of succour from that. The other element of it is that situations arise and, unfortunately, the nature of international politics is that pressure can come on smaller countries. Pressure may come on to co-operate with or participate in a certain initiative. Has the Department evaluated whether, strategically, Ireland is exposing itself to further risk of pressure to deploy by removing a clear safeguard that exists? That safeguard is grounded in multilateralism and international law. It is a gold standard in as much as possible with regard to human rights and international law. We are removing an objective safeguard that can be pointed to in the instance of pressure from other countries. Are we not potentially exposing ourselves to further risk? Is that not a strategic risk of this potential change in legislation?