Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Determining international law is one of the core questions and Professor Tonra suggests the Attorney General, for example, or other legal opinion. How important is it to have transparency and make publicly available the international law basis or UN Charter interpretation on which an action is to be taken? While there does not seem to be any recourse in the Bill, what recourse would any of the witnesses suggest there should be where the Oireachtas, a citizen or any other party believes that an action or a deployment is not consistent with international law? The language seems very loose here.

My final point is for Mr. Noonan. Again and again we have been hearing whether the UN protects Irish neutrality. Does Irish neutrality contribute to the protection of the UN and international law and to credibility? I note that Mr. Noonan has very concrete ways in which he believes we can have a particular credible role when it comes to international law and the UN. For me, that is the core of neutrality.