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

If the Deputy had been part of the conversations that took place during the preparation of the White Paper, she would know that nothing could be further from the truth. We are talking about spending significant sums of taxpayers' money on building a peace and leadership institute in the Curragh. We hope it will train people from universities all over the world in how to keep peace rather than how to make war. While our Defence Forces have a defence capacity, we are focusing our resources primarily on their interests abroad. This means protecting them, training them and ensuring they are effective in peacekeeping. That is why I am looking for a bigger budget. I am not doing so for any other reason.

In terms of the platform that is the Defence Forces infrastructure, we want to work with the private sector to develop technology that can help the Irish Defence Forces to do what they do more effectively.

That is not about testing weapons but is about things like testing kite technology on the decks of ships, which is happening at the moment. It is about putting better communications systems in place in order that we can have improved and secure communications and we can test them within the Defence Forces. It is about improving observation, improved safety training and all the other practical things we can test within the infrastructure that is a Defence Forces training camp, a Naval Service ship or an Air Corps airplane in order that we can improve the technology and link in with many of the technology innovators we have in Ireland.

I often use the example of Cork Harbour and the Irish marine and energy resource cluster. Some 48 companies now work in the Beaufort laboratory next door to the naval base and we have an opportunity to work with some of them in marine innovation and marine technology using Naval Service vessels. It is not about testing weapons or anything else on those lines, as some people like to paint it.

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