Mr. Barry Andrews:

It is historically accurate to say that in 1973 a lot of those on the left opposed Ireland joining the European Economic Community, EEC, because of the EU army, militarisation and conscription. There is an idea that we will be unable to resist pressure. There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that we will be under pressure to deploy troops. One example is the 2003 UN-mandated invasion of Iraq. EU countries decided they did not want to have anything to do with that. Ireland, being in the triple lock, had an opportunity to become involved but nobody put us any under pressure. We were very close to the United States and made a sovereign decision that we did not have anything to do with the invasion, and quite rightly so.

I ask whether somebody can show me some evidence that this is happening. It is absolutely right that the European Union has decided security and defence are an absolute priority for the next couple of years but to extrapolate from that that there will be a knock on our door from Ursula von der Leyen saying that the EU wants Ireland to deploy troops against our will is just not credible.