Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

The term "battle group" is in no way misleading but is pretty much spot on. The key objective is not a secret at all, in that EU battle groups were set up to provide a military force directly under the control of the EU political elite and the EU structures that are dominant there. It is part of an increased militarisation across Europe, and I must note that the Minister is in the camp of the hawks in this regard, very much accelerating the process. The Minister is correct that it is not just a case of having the battle groups present; there is currently an acute drive to have them deployed against the backdrop of the drive towards increased EU military expenditure. As Deputy Crowe noted, this is precisely at a time when austerity is raining on the heads of ordinary citizens. If one takes the recent example of the Russian war planes accused of incursions over Turkey and the Baltic states, such events could spark an incident in which the German battle groups would be deployed, and Irish soldiers would be participating.

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