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

This is a helpful discussion. It shows the conundrum we face around our neutrality and our partnership with European countries that are members of NATO. It is destroying our neutrality when we take collective decisions. For example, we abstained on the vote in the UN on the need for a report into what one, being gentle, would describe as human rights abuses that were taking place in the conflict in Palestine. How was it in the interests of the Irish people to abstain on that vote? We have coalesced with NATO countries which are often aggressors and we are undermining our own independence. We are also undermining our potential to use our neutrality in a positive way, to be involved in UN peacekeeping, to use our conflict resolution experience and to be one of the biggest per capitacontributors to overseas development aid internationally. We can be leaders in conflict resolution and human rights, but we are losing our credibility because of our alliances with NATO countries in the European Union. That is not in our national interest. I ask the Minister to reflect on what we are losing here and the positive role we can play in these conflicts if we just do right by our own people.

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