Mr. Ciarán Murphy:

I do not think the UN General Assembly is the route to go simply because it is unworkable and does not give the legal certainty. Going down that route would not be repeating a UN mission, to put it that way, in terms of the blue hat, etc. It is up to the House to determine the checks and balances it inserts in the legislation such as a more robust role for the committee or a free vote in the Dáil. A whole rake of criteria could be inserted. Twenty-seven members of the European Union do not decide overnight to go to war in Chad, for example, or to mount an operation. There are lots of discussions and negotiations running into the late hours of the night and early hours of the morning on the concept of operations, the strategic approach of the European Union to a particular issue - for example, Chad, an operation Ireland led - the strategic orientation, the operational concept and rules of engagement. All countries are concerned about sending their troops into harm's way and about the bona fides in terms of public perception of what they are doing. We have had situations in Ireland where we have not participated in missions, even when they were UN mandated, because we had concerns about whether it met our policy objectives and whether it was consistent with Ireland's national policy and foreign policy. We need to go back and put trust in the House which the originators of the 1960 Act put, which stated the role of Dáil Éireann is to protect Ireland's sovereignty and neutrality.