Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Direct answers to my questions would be very much appreciated. Does the Minister of State believe it is acceptable that the European Union is purchasing military hardware, including drones, from Israel, given its appalling human rights record? For that matter, does he believe it is acceptable that the Israeli military-industrial complex is being integrated into this European drive towards militarism?

On the point about fortress Europe and immigrants, particularly after the Lampedusa tragedy, was there further discussion on the proposal floating around that Frontex, a private EU security border company which patrols for profit, be given some of the responsibility for enforcing border controls to prevent poor migrants from north Africa and elsewhere getting into Europe? Does the Minister of State believe Ireland should be associated with a European Council meeting, at which these matters were discussed, that was preceded by an address by the Secretary General of NATO, a nuclear military alliance? It is clear from the succession of events that when NATO tells the European Union what it wants, it gets it.

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