Dr. Edward Burke:

May I say something briefly? We need to look at neutrality but also be conscious of how we exercise our sovereignty. Right now, for example, if we do not have access to the Partnership for Peace and the NATO cyber excellence framework and centre, our ability to protect our democracy is greatly limited. I know how much the communication and information services, CIS corps of the Defence Forces and other parts of the security infrastructure of the State value that access. We need to be realistic with the Irish public. There is a reason we want to exercise more sovereignty. Absenting ourselves and saying we do not need to develop these capabilities with partners from other European democratic countries, for example, means that our services will have less capability to deter and defend against cyberattacks and disinformation. These are important things. I am in favour of the Partnership for Peace for that reason. However, I am not asking for us to sign up to Article 5. We need to find a middle ground. The Irish public has an appetite for and understanding that Irish sovereignty matters. The way to protect it in this cyber, AI and digital era is quite complicated. People are clued in. They know about their privacy. They understand what happened in Ukraine. They are aware of threats. That is why the polling is a little all over the place in terms of where the Irish public stands on security. They want more security for their sovereignty, but we need to do that with our European partners. It is extremely difficult, and almost impossible, to do it otherwise.