Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have a general question about the European Defence Agency. Mr. Roehrig might have gathered from my earlier comments that even the name frightens the life out of me and other people in the context of where it will end up. There is a fear of a wider European army and so on. How do the protocols go with regard to the EDA determining what member states want and need, what the requirements are, the research that is done and where the EDA foresees it going in the future? I guess that Mr. Roehrig will not be able to give me a definitive answer. I will misquote whoever spoke earlier about the European Union as a security player, for want of a better term. What does the EDA foresee that being? I have a fear about where that will go, while also accepting that we have to deal with the situation, whether we are dealing with the consequences of the failed military operation in Afghanistan, which fell apart brutally, or with issues on the Polish border with Belarus, where Lukashenko is engaging in war by another means. I would be delighted if the witnesses could give detail on that.