Ms Niamh Ní Bhriain:

Again, that would be Ireland contributing, so we would be part of a growing military entity, which would expose us. It is important to come back to what the Irish people have said in two consecutive referendums. In Nice and Lisbon, we voted no the first time around because we were worried that we would get dragged into a European military structure. Participating in these funds is undemocratic because the Irish people have said they do not want that and it is also potentially unconstitutional because we have two referendums that were built on the back of our not participating in military structures. We are going down a really dangerous road in terms of what the country actually stands for democratically and constitutionally and we are also potentially exposing ourselves to a military threat. I cannot see why we would participate in a European Union military project. It will not keep us safe, but expose us, and we have no obligation to do so under European Union law. We have a carve out. We have the triple lock. We can keep ourselves outside of these military structures and our neutrality should be respected within that.