Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

It is because every document on defence that the Commission publishes and every conclusion that the European Council reaches on concern defence talks about specific characteristics of certain member states needing to be respected. That means our neutrality and that of Austria, which spends a lot more on defence than we do. Fundamentally, defence is a member state competence. There is no European army coming, no matter what some people may say.