Ms Lynn Boylan:

I share the Senator's concerns because of the amendment in the Defence (Amendment) Act 2021 because it does mean, if we participate in an international force, under the provisions of the heads of Bill we could have Irish troops technically under the command of EU or NATO commanders. That is very different then just as I talked about the difference between the EU and UN missions. The objectives of those missions are very different. I share the Senator's concerns as I think the Irish population would. Regarding the groupthink in the European Parliament, there absolutely is a moral panic that is there. The Senator is right. We condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine but what we would like to see, if we are really serious about a peace process and about a dialogue, then tooling up and allowing all EU funds to be used for military expenditure is not sending out a signal to anybody that we are actually serious about a peace process. Therefore, we are sending out mixed messages from the EU as well. I would much rather see the focus and the investment put into a peace process. Ukraine has to be at the heart of that peace process - nothing about them without them - but we are not serious about trying to have a peace process in that conflict.