Ms Lynn Boylan:

As the Deputy already said, there is nothing in the triple lock that prevents us from investing in our Defence Forces and I think everyone agrees that we need to invest in them. It is unacceptable that we cannot provide crews to crew our naval ships and that there are issues in the aviation sector. That is not acceptable but it is completely separate to abandoning the triple lock.

From my experience of sitting in on any of the debates in the European Parliament, it was quite distinctive that Commissioner Kallas called Ireland out specifically on its neutrality. However, what will be heard from Members of the European Parliament, even within the Green group - you feel quite isolated when you are on the left - is the need for a European army and for qualified majority voting on foreign and security decisions to be abandoned. There is huge pressure and huge dissatisfaction among other member states about the fact that some countries want to be neutral and do not share the same context or world view as other European member states.