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

The straight answer is that I do not. I do not think we should be making decisions on the basis of what people think in other parts of the world about who is using our airports and who is not. We have had a policy for many decades of facilitating the US with the use of Shannon Airport under a fairly strict protocol, which is the responsibility of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. That is as it is. Ireland has an extraordinarily positive record in terms of its involvement abroad in conflict areas. Deputy Wallace seems to be suggesting that in every part of the world where there has been Western intervention, as he calls it, it has been a disaster. That is not always the case. Irish peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have played a significant role in rescuing many lives. On the Golan Heights the Irish Defence Forces are currently playing a real stabilising role, and the UN wants us to stay. Defence Forces personnel in Mali, under difficult circumstances and clearly in a dangerous part of the world, are helping to train national security services to protect their own citizens. There are many examples, particularly involving Irish troops, where intervention abroad is necessary and has a positive dividend for local populations.

Deputy Wallace's view of the world seems to be that the West should simply pull out of the Middle East, should have no involvement in places like north Africa and should simply allow dictators to run riot in regions.

I am not suggesting that intervention has always been successful. In many cases, intervention has caused severe problems and triggered lots of other problems. I am saying that Irish decisions, in relation to both where we send our troops and our relationship with other sovereign countries, are based on trying to support peace, stability and democracy and protecting human rights of vulnerable people in exposed circumstances, and I stand over that.

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