Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State will appreciate that the comments made by the Secretary General of NATO when he was here were insensitive at best. Ireland has a proud history of neutrality. Our Defence Forces have served across the world under blue helmet operations. Our people have played a leading role in conflict resolution on an ongoing basis, and that is our position. The Secretary General knows that very well. He was here because we have the EU Presidency and he should have been respectful of our neutrality. I am disappointed the Government has yet to publicly rebuke him. Has its members privately rebuked him? Have they complained to his office that it was disrespectful that he would be on some kind of a recruitment exercise?

It must increasingly be asked as to what is the point of NATO. It was about the Cold War between the USSR and the United States and two different world views. That is all over, apparently, and we have the United Nations which is supposed to be the body that is responsible for conflict resolution. What is NATO for, what is it about, and how dare its Secretary General come here and say that we should join it, rather than respect our neutrality? I want to get the Minister of State's on-the-record response to that. Has the Government formally protested about what the secretary general said?

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