Ms Niamh Ní Bhriain:

I would like to make one comment to finish up. The slogan for this SAFE fund is: "Buy more, buy better, buy together, buy European". There is going to be an awful lot of buying going on in the next while that will be backed against a European Union public budget. What is going on here today is really important, and also when we did the Act in Support of Ammunition Production. I participate in another European-wide network of people doing similar work and Ireland is the only country I am aware of that is actually tracking this stuff. The work that is happening in this committee is important not just for Ireland but also for other groups trying to dig into this a bit more in their own countries, contexts and parliaments. There is really important work going on at this committee and I am grateful for the invitation to participate here. Ireland can play a unique role and it is maybe a little bit like Ms Kinney said. We can be the state that stands up and says there is actually an alternative to war, arming up and militarising to the teeth. We know that is not going to end well. There is no correlation between an increase in military spending and an increase in security. It is the opposite. We know that and history has shown us that.

Ireland is in a unique position as a country that is not a military power - it is a neutral country - in that we would be the country that stands up. We can vote against these national plans at the European Council. We can do that. I do not think the Government will do that. I wish it would and I hope it does but if we do not do that, there are other things we can do. We can withdraw from the EU battle groups and PESCO and be the country that says there is an alternative to war, and we can have that place.