Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the Deputies who have contributed. I do not agree with some of the comments but I accept that people are making contributions in a spirit of trying to impact on what the outcome of the White Paper will look like. I will do what I can to take on board as many suggestions as possible that we have heard.

I will not go through each suggestion because if I did that I would only get through two or three. We have written down some the individual comments and we will try to look at them in the context of the overall paper. I will, however, make a few general comments because I suspect some Defence Forces personnel may be watching this debate. I regard being an Irish soldier as one of the most significant forms of patriotism that is left in terms of serving the State. This is a White Paper of which Defence Forces personnel, whether reservists or Permanent Defence Force personnel, should be proud and in which they should see a future for themselves and their careers as members of the Defence Forces in Ireland. They should view with pride the contribution they will make to their country, its security and that of its people. The Defence Forces are a hugely important part of our national infrastructure. They would be the last line of defence if things were to take a significant unexpected negative turn, which may happen at some stage in the future and which we cannot predict. My role is to put in place a White Paper that tries to anticipate all future risks, within reason, and to try to put together an infrastructure involving human resources, equipment, knowledge, training and the skillsets that can respond to the list of threats that change every year. A lot of the commentary in the debate has referred to how quickly some of the threats are changing.

To all Permanent Defence Force personnel, I say that we want you to be proud of who you are and the career you have chosen. I hope that you will see, like so many others in the public sector, the rewards for the sacrifices you have made in recent years in response to a financial crisis in this country as we see improved working conditions and pay. I also thank those personnel for their commitment and loyalty for staying in the Defence Forces through that period and for facilitating the reform which was not simply a cost-saving measure but a reconfiguration of the Defence Forces to ensure we get the maximum effect in terms of output for the country from a strength of 9,500 personnel.

I want to explore some new opportunities in this White Paper. I want to create a platform for international education and understanding of peacekeeping and conflict resolution and I want us to give leadership in areas such as gender-based violence, in which Ireland has some credibility, and other skillsets in which we have proven our worth in international peacekeeping operations, particularly in places like the Middle East and Africa. We have the capacity to build an international piece of infrastructure of real value to the United Nations and to our European partners. I also think we can do more in terms of corporate social responsibility to reach out to young people who have been failed by the State and who may be entering a permanent state of disadvantage in their lives. The Defence Forces may be able to transform a life by reaching out to such people. We have looked at international best practice to learn what might work in Ireland and I look forward to exploring that concept with others in this House when we publish the White Paper.

There must be a sense of value, recognition, pride and self-esteem from being a member of the Defence Forces when a person leaves, as well as when he or she is there. For this reason there are some very strong statements in the White Paper around veterans' policy. It is totally unacceptable that a person who is injured severely in the line of duty may have to go to court to secure a significant compensation package. We are looking at putting new structures in place which are far less adversarial and which recognise the respect we should have for our Defence Forces, for the work they do and the risks they take.

All this will require a budget which will necessitate an incremental increase over time, and we are committing to a ten-year period for this. I recognise the constraints my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, and his Department are under at the moment and we are realists about this, but we also want to ensure defence is part of the medium and long-term financial planning of this country.

The security and defence of the State is not just about soldiers and defence. It is also about planning and management across Departments, involving foreign affairs, justice, transportation and the office of the Taoiseach, in order that we can have a defence and security policy for Ireland in the future that is fit for purpose in the modern world. I thank everyone for their contributions and we will do our best to accommodate the contributions that were helpful.

Government policy on neutrality is settled and this is reflected in the recent policy document that came from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. We do not propose to change that but will reinforce it in the White Paper by the maintenance of the triple lock in our approach towards neutrality. This does not mean staying out of trouble all the time. It means Ireland is independent to choose what we do and what we do not do in terms of international peacekeeping and peace support. That is what we will continue to do with the triple of lock.

I thank those working in the House for facilitating us in staying here for an extra 20 minutes.

See this speech in context