Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

At a time like this, when we are debating and presumably voting on the allocation of five Irish soldiers to participate in a British-led battle group, which I presume will include British paratroopers - the Minister may be able to clarify that - we should remind ourselves of every time we raised the nature of the European Union in discussions. In debates about the Lisbon treaty and the prospect of the militarisation of Europe, we were laughed at and ridiculed. Straw men were put up saying that we were saying that everyone was going to be conscripted into a European army when nobody was saying that. These are battle groups; they are not peace groups. They are the ability of the European Union to put 50,000 troops on the ground anywhere in the world within five days. To what purposes can they be put on the ground? I will read the relevant section of the Treaty on the European Union, which says:

The tasks ... in the course of which the Union may use civilian and military means, shall include joint disarmament operations, humanitarian and rescue tasks, military advice and assistance tasks, conflict prevention and peace-keeping tasks ... All these tasks may contribute to the fight against terrorism, including by supporting third countries in combating terrorism in their territories.

That was added by the Lisbon treaty and it broadens the definition of what battle groups can do. The fight against terrorism is the pretext du jourfor imperialist interventions, led by France in Mali and others in the Middle East. Nobody goes to war anymore for colonial interest; they always go to war to prevent terrorism.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, a former secretary general of NATO said:

EU Battle Groups could be used to go to war. Why did the EU create the Battle Group? It is not just to help rebuild a country. The Battle Groups are not for building schools. We should not think the EU is for soft power and NATO for tough power.

There it is in black and white. That is how the military, political and economic establishment in Europe and around the world view these battle groups and it is a disgrace that the Government would propose, and the Dáil presumably would agree to, Irish participation in yet another battle group that can be used against so-called terrorism. Unfortunately, the Government and previous Governments makes a lie of the idea of Ireland's neutrality. That happens in many different ways in terms of the battle groups. It also happens through the use of Shannon Airport. It is against the wishes of the vast majority of people in this country and we should reject the motion. We should not be participating in any battle groups whatsoever.

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