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

With respect, I think France is better placed to make decisions on how it protects its citizens than Deputy Daly, which is what she seems to be proposing. The country saw over 130 of its citizens mowed down or blown up on the streets of Paris. An Irish citizen, who luckily was not killed, was injured significantly.

France has a right to respond to protect itself and it will do that. What it chooses to do is not going to be influenced by Ireland one way or the other. However, if France is redeploying troops to protect its citizens at home and abroad and if that creates gaps in peacekeeping missions in different parts of the world, then Ireland could potentially be helpful to the United Nations in filling them. Of course we will look at that, because that is what Ireland does. We do peacekeeping and we do it well. We try to bring stability, protect people, train people and bring some sense of normalisation to conflict zones. We will continue to do that. That is all that is at play here.

We will come back to this House if we make a decision to do that, which we may not do. If we do we will go through the normal procedure and justify everything we do in the context of settled policy in Ireland around neutrality.

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