Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy should be reasonably clear by now that the answer is "yes". I become concerned when neutrality is used as a flag to suggest we should not engage in peacekeeping, or that we should be neutral when it comes to terrorism and people being blown apart. I will never be neutral about that. Neutrality can be a convenient flag on occasions to avoid making moral judgments that should be made in the international arena.

Do I support our not being formally part of some military alliance intent on invading some other state? Of course I do, but it is important that we do not regard NATO as irrelevant. Close co-operation between NATO and the UN and its agencies is an important element in the development of what is known as an international comprehensive approach to crisis management and to UN operations. In that context, the UN relies on regional groupings to facilitate putting together peacekeeping missions and operations. NATO in that context is a crucial element. UN Security Council resolutions have provided the mandate for NATO operations in the western Balkans and Afghanistan, and we participated in NATO-led operations in those areas. More recently, NATO operations to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under attack in Libya in 2011 were carried out under the remit of UN Security Council Resolution No. 1973. NATO also provided support to UN-sponsored operations, including logistical assistance to the African Union's UN-endorsed peacekeeping operations in Darfur, Sudan and Somalia, support for UN disaster relief operations in Pakistan following the dreadful earthquake in 2005, and escorted merchant ships carrying World Food Programme humanitarian supplies off the coast of Somalia.

NATO has reformulated itself into a very important body in dealing with peacekeeping and humanitarian relief across the world. Our link to that is through Partnership for Peace.

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