Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)

As an internationalist, I am certainly not Eurosceptic. I have had to listen to many comments down the years. I have been accused of being isolationist. What is happening in Gaza or any other part of the world is of much concern to me as what is happening in Portlaoise, Kerry or anywhere else. I see a significant need to improve our defence capabilities. There is a sense that because we are neutral, we shy away from participating in war. People have stood up and fought against an empire. The peacekeepers we sent to Lebanon and other parts of the world have shown how brave they are and have put their necks on the line. Some of them have even lost their lives in service to the UN. We need to improve our military capabilities and defend the cables in our waters. That is a separate argument that is being conflated with the issue surrounding the triple lock. It is a nonsense argument. My next door neighbour joined the Naval Service recently and we are all very proud of him. A load of other young people passed out recently as members of the Naval Service, which is brilliant.

Regarding the triple lock and the deployment of 12 troops or more, my concern involves the limit of 12. I am a supporter of the UN mandate, which has been there since 1961. In the case of an attack on an embassy, narcotics or rescuing Irish citizens, is there a reasonable argument that we should increase that number to 50 or 100? Is it a pragmatic thing to do? I would be open to the argument in favour of that while retaining the triple lock and recognising the UN mandate. Could Professor Murphy address those questions?

I thought Senator Kyne was on all-party group that put Ireland's case for a place as a non-permanent member on the Security Council to other European governments but it was another Fine Gael Member. We are all on the same page. We were all there to lobby political parties in Europe along with some African countries that were attending the conference in Geneva to support Ireland's place as a non-permanent member of the Security Council. Could the witnesses explain what happened in 1956 and 1964? The General Assembly gave the mandate.