Dr. Edward Burke:

It is a pleasure and I thank the Cathaoirleach, Deputies and Senators. I am very grateful for the opportunity to appear before you this morning.

In my previous role as an employee of the European External Action Service, I had the privilege of working directly with members of the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána. While at the start of the century, Ireland and Europe was a place of considerable optimism – the European Union was growing, international law was on the march and there were more democracies in the world than ever before – that landscape has fundamentally changed. Hybrid conflict is here. A major European war is ongoing and EU member states are asking for our help. Our democracies and critical infrastructure – energy pipelines, fibre-optic cables and cyberspace – are vulnerable to attack.

At the outset of Ireland’s membership of the United Nations, the then Taoiseach, Eamon de Valera, warned Ireland should not allow its military to be entirely subject to the whims of the permanent members of the Security Council - particularly those with significant colonial baggage - should the latter decide to embark on a war. The Dáil would have precedence as mandated under the Constitution. The same principle applies today to inaction or deliberate spoiling on the part of China, the Russian Federation or the United States. Russia has recently threatened to veto EU peacekeeping missions hosted by UN member states unless the EU increasingly grants it concessions or weakens the mandates of its missions in places such as the Balkans. The UN Charter is clear: Chapter VIII states regional peace-building in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter does not require a UN Security Council mandate. A Security Council resolution is, however, necessary to carry out peace enforcement under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.

This is an important distinction.

Ireland has played a limited role in Chapter VII missions yet there has been a long-standing insistence on the necessity of a UN Security Council resolution as a key legal test as to whether the Government can deploy a Defence Forces contingent to a peacekeeping operation. This proposed legislation, the defence (amendment) Bill, removes an unnecessary legislative barrier. I have every confidence that, as in other small European democracies, our democracy, comprising the Oireachtas, the Constitution, the judicial system and our citizens, is well equipped to ensure that our Defence Forces adhere to domestic and international law in cases where permanent members of the UN Security Council are clearly not fulfilling their duty to act according to the principles of the UN Charter.

In a submission to the committee there was condemnation of militarist and Jean Monnet university-based agents in this country who are involved in propaganda dissemination. There are very few Jean Monnet professors in the country and they are easily identifiable. It is an esteemed position in European academia and the selection process involves the best international scholars on the Continent of Europe. Whatever disagreements we may have with our academic colleagues, the use of the term "agent" is particularly regrettable. It implies control of that person by external forces. It is a term frequently used to describe those who work for foreign intelligence services. This is not the way to speak about other members of the academic community or any other citizen without evidence. We all need to be respectful, including to all of our academic colleagues, Members of the Oireachtas and citizens in general. As academics we need to show leadership on this. I thank the committee and I look forward to discussion and questions.