Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes, absolutely, without the UN but the UN is not functioning in its make-up and, ultimately, any peacekeeping mission that Ireland was to participate in would have to be with the consent or the abstention of the P5 members. That is the whole point of the issue here.

Colonel Doyle last Tuesday stated that the UN veto system reflects the realities of global power dynamics but also leads to deadlocking situations where the P5 interests conflict. Touching on and following on from Deputy Brabazon's comments on the UNIFIL mission, that is a case in point. The witnesses both agree that that peacekeeping mission is worthy. I think the Irish people do. There is a proud record. Soldiers have lost their lives on those peacekeeping missions, and the military experts who were here last week indicated that soldiers, in many cases young recruits, join the Irish Defence Forces because of peacekeeping missions and to be part of them. Were geopolitics to interfere with that, and were Israel to encourage the United States to block that mandate, would the witnesses accept that as being fine or right or proper?