Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the opportunity to discuss this motion today. The draft schedule of this week's Dáil business circulated last Thursday had this issue down for approval without debate which would have been regrettable. As I have always stated the importance of discussing all defence motions, I welcome the decision to have a debate on the motion.

The motion at first glance seems to be innocuous enough. Most Irish people would agree Ireland should be involved in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear, CBRN, protection. Sinn Féin has always been opposed to nuclear energy for safety reasons and it will continue to oppose the use of nuclear energy. On checking the EDA website to get some background information I noticed this quote:

Despite arms control agreements and initiatives, some nations and some non-state actors continue to acquire chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear capabilities. This trend is most pronounced in areas of chronic political instability where the EU may be called upon to mount operations.

Additionally there have been many instances of terrorist and other ad hoc groupings that embrace CBRN technologies as a powerful means of pursuing their interests.

To address these risks, the EDA, in its own words, has been successfully tackling CBRN capability development issues since the beginning of 2006 with good and tangible results.

The maritime surveillance project asks Ireland to sign up as willing participants to monitor "activities, associated with and occurring in the maritime domain, which could impact on the security, safety and environment of the European Union and its member states". In 2006 when this project was officially launched, the aim was to create a network whose overall goal was to avoid duplication of efforts in this area by using existing naval and maritime information exchange systems.

While we all agree on co-operation to tackle illegal drug importation and human trafficking, I am more than uneasy with the term military co-operation. The question always remains "co-operation with whom exactly?". A 2008 document on the EDA website concerning EU-NATO collaboration and the role of the EDA gives us some insight into this question. It states:

The fact that EU member states that are also NATO allies have only one set of armed forces and must optimise their available resources means that coherence between the EU and NATO is an absolute necessity. The two organisations simply must co-ordinate their activities. Existing NATO standards, concepts and military requirements should be used wherever applicable.

Regarding CBRN issues, this document further stated: "With regard to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, the EDA mainly focuses on biological threats while NATO focuses on the chemical threats."

It is obvious the EDA, through the CBRN and MARSUR project, is all about the EU being a vital part of the NATO infrastructure. For this reason, Sinn Féin will oppose this motion.

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