Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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In recent times, whenever I receive a document from the Department of Defence, I get shivers down my spine. There is an increasing feeling that we are being walked into circumstances. There were references to capabilities for peacekeeping and international crisis management operations. What are international crisis management operations? It is as though we are ashamed of the fact that we are renowned worldwide for peacekeeping. That is our speciality. There are enough people with the necessary equipment who engage in military activity. We engage in peacekeeping and we have a specialist ability to do so, built up over many generations. I get the feeling that we are being dragged, slowly but surely, as if we are ashamed that we are only peacekeepers.

What are international crisis management operations? The Minister of State indicated that a force protection programme is a key issue for the Defence Forces engaged in peace support and crisis management operations overseas. We are being walked into something here and we should be extremely careful. As a former Minister for Defence, I am very proud of the role played by the Irish Defence Forces in peacekeeping abroad. Ireland is renowned for its peacekeeping efforts. We have a specialist knowledge of these matters and we should be very proud of our peacekeeping, and continue to support it. I get the feeling that we are semi-ashamed that we are not in with the big boys. It is as if peacekeeping has gone out of fashion. In my opinion, peacekeeping has not gone out of fashion and is more important now than ever. We should not allow anybody to interfere with it.

The Minister of State said all of these projects are designed to enhance the capacity of the Defence Forces to participate in international crisis management operations. That spells trouble because it is not international peacekeeping. Our Defence Forces are not there for international crisis management operations. We do not have the numbers and we do not have the capability. I get extremely concerned every time I get a memo with this sort of language in it. It is about time we stood up and said we are proud of the fact that we are renowned for our peacekeeping abilities. That means having skills that are not available to very many people operating in the world of defence force operations.

The Minister also said that the Government’s White Paper on defence, published in August 2015, states that Ireland will identify opportunities to participate in multinational capability development projects within the framework of the European Defence Agency in support of the Defence Forces’ operations, capacity and capability. What does all that mean? It is jargon for saying we are shifting away from genuine peacekeeping. I support previous speakers who said it was about time we stood up and said we are peacekeepers. We are proud of the skills we have developed over many years on various operations throughout the world. We do not get engaged in peacemaking, which means getting involved in conflict. This is worth protecting and it is worthwhile for this committee to set out what we believe our Defence Forces should be doing. They should continue to do what they have been doing, very successfully, down through the years as peacekeepers in various parts of the world.

I get the impression that people want to show that our Army is as good as the next. However, ours is a peacekeeping army. It goes on peacekeeping missions and does not look for conflict. I get very nervous every time I see documentation like this because we are walking into something I do not believe the vast majority of the Irish people want to get involved in. We are all very proud of our peacekeepers who have carried out their duties in various parts of the world and brought great credit to the country. If we are going to become one of the others, count me out. I do not think it is an advisable road to go down. This committee should state that it wants our Defence Forces to be the best peacekeepers in the world.