Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

I already said that one of the markers of an independent country is that it can protect itself. The fundamental function of an independent country is exactly what the Senator said, namely, to protect our independent security. That is our top priority. We are going to do that. We have committed to significantly increasing spending on national defence over the next few years. This allows the Taoiseach to make the announcements every week or so on what the latest procurement is. People talk in the abstract about defence and the militarisation of Europe. This week, we announced sonar capability. If anyone in the Dáil objected to sonar, they would be laughed at. This is what we need. When we talk about increasing our defence capability, it means sonar, radar, more members of the Defence Forces, more equipment and proper training facilities.