Mr. Barry Andrews:

We have been involved in Partnership for Peace, PESCO and the Common Security and Defence Policy for years. The Government said it will get involved in the SAFE regulation - it is not about spending more but about spending better and procurement. When we did vaccine procurement, we did it at a European level and got vaccines at a price we could never have got on our own. As we move to level of ambition 2, that is militarisation in Ireland. We are trying to increase our military capacity in Ireland just as the European Union is. It has decided it is not fit for purpose right now. The European Union wants to work together for interoperability, to do procurement together, for civil preparedness and partnerships outside of the European Union including Japan, South Korea, Norway and the UK. We are doing the same. Characterising what the European Union is doing as militarisation is to misread the mood at the moment.