John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

How could anybody reading this legislation come to that conclusion? How can he say that the triple lock is the same? The 1960 Act has been amended beyond all recognition.

We have a proud record as UN peacekeepers and this has served us well. It has been implied that Members who are opposed to this legislation are somehow opposed to the Army intervening in any shape or form, but that is not true. The Green Party has endorsed and supported every peacekeeping mission authorised by this House. That is a fact.

My time is limited so I will proceed to the key question of the definition. Deputy Costello rightly said "established or authorised". We should look at the Seville declaration given to us by the Government at the time of the Nice treaty. It states that Ireland reiterates that the participation of contingents of the Irish Defence Forces in overseas operations, including those carried out under European security and defence policy, requires the authorisation of the operation by the Security Council or the General Assembly of the United Nations. It is clear we are going beyond authorisation or establishment. Once we get into wording like "endorsed, supported, approved or otherwise sanctioned" it becomes very woolly. The Minister knows that and it is deliberate. Can the Minister give one instance where we have been stopped from going on a mission because of this definition? Can I get one example of that?

The Minister is aware of my difficulties with section 3.

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