John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

It is disgraceful that there are only two and a quarter hours to debate this Bill. I only have six minutes to make my contribution on very important legislation, which represents a fundamental shift in Irish defence policy. This is not just tinkering with Irish defence policy, it is not just a technical Bill, its purpose is to change the essence of Ireland's triple lock mechanism and to destroy a cornerstone of what has become known as "Irish military neutrality". I do not like that phrase. I prefer to talk about our traditional foreign and defence policy.

Fianna Fáil has done more than any other party to undo our traditional foreign and defence policy. It has been extremely hypocritical about this. Recently, I attended a meeting in my constituency at which a Fianna Fáil candidate said he did not like talk about the undoing of Irish neutrality. He believes Ireland is as neutral as it ever was. This is nonsense when one looks at what is happening in Shannon. American troops travel through Shannon Airport and their commander-in-chief, George W. Bush addresses them there. American troops go through Ennis in uniform, which is a clear breach of Irish defence law, and nothing is done about it. Shannon is being used for renditions. The Fianna Fáil Party supports a European Arms Agency without any debate in the House.

This is the party that promised, when in opposition, a referendum on NATO's partnership for peace. We were subsequently told by the Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, that the partnership for peace had nothing to do with NATO. That suggests that the man is out of touch with reality. When I asked the Minister for Defence in this Chamber about battle groups I was told that Ireland had made no commitment in that regard. Later, when it became clear that Ireland was to join a battle group, he said that the triple lock would remain intact. That is typical of Fianna Fáil — a wink and a nod, speaking out of both sides of one's mouth and being all things to all people.

Then there is the Fine Gael approach, which is probably more straightforward. The party has made no bones about its policy. It never liked the triple lock and supports increases in defence spending. The party has supported the WEU, an organisation that supported nuclear weapons, from the beginning. Fine Gael has been, for the most part, up-front. However, there is a problem when it refers to the UN. I vividly recall Deputy Gay Mitchell speaking in the House about the Iraq war and saying that he opposed the war because there was no UN mandate. It now appears that when the UN mandate becomes problematic, Fine Gael is quite prepared to ditch it.

I have certain expectations of the Labour Party, perhaps naively. As I listened to Deputy Costello give a half-hearted welcome to the Bill, I was reminded of the quote from the Book of Revelation which states: "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth". Deputy Costello implied that the triple lock remains intact. Has the Deputy lost his marbles or his scruples, or has he just bottled it because the Labour Party is now in thrall to Fine Gael?

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