Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As we are waiting for the Senators to come back, I will use this opportunity to ask a couple of questions.

During previous sessions, safeguarding has been mentioned in regard to the Oireachtas. This committee being a safeguard has been discussed. In terms of scrutiny, that is absolutely the case but there are constraints and it is important to point out that we are time-limited, even in terms of pre-legislative scrutiny where we have been confined to eight weeks. We were not allowed to seek an extension on that. All Oireachtas committees, to the best of my knowledge, have a Government majority, as does the Seanad and obviously the Dáil. That may not be the safeguard that some may think it is. Do the witnesses see any protections in the heads of the Bill which would prevent the growing EU militarisation encroaching on our neutrality?