Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The proposition before us is an affront to the concept of our neutrality. It is in line with other daily occurrences where we see the US military using our airport in Shannon in spite of our neutrality. We see other examples where Irish Defence Forces personnel are sent and kept in Afghanistan to support NATO led initiatives, its resolute support mission and so on. We are told that these initiatives are taken in countries like Afghanistan to ensure the security of the population and to support its Government. The reality is that our troops have been present in a country where the so-called Government has no mandate or say and which is divided between ISIS on the one hand and the Taliban on the other. We should have no hand, act or part in participating there, no more than we should have in the idea of participating in the EU battle groups.

Initially, these groups were established with 1,500 combat soldiers assigned to each one. The point has been made that to allow for back-up on rotation, there were another seven to nine soldiers for each combat soldier so, in effect, a battle group is a military force of 12,000 troops. The numbers have extended from their original concept and the size has increased to more than 3,000. Given that two are made ready approximately every six months, in effect, the European Union is developing an armed force of almost 50,000 troops ready to be sent anywhere in the world. That is happy days for those in the arms industry who are the main beneficiaries of this situation.

The record is well known that EU battle groups could be used to go to war. Why else would they have been established? Generally, they were initiated on the basis of being nationally based or made up of troops from adjoining countries, which would lead Britain to be the logical ally for Ireland in that context. However, Fianna Fáil was in power when this arose originally and it had a problem because the idea of Irish troops fighting alongside those from Great Britain was anathema at that time and could not be envisaged. Obviously, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael supported the Good Friday Agreement and believed that, eventually, the time would be right when this proposition could be considered. It is clear that the Government believes the time is right now.

I am not a nationalist; I have no interest in nationalism. I am an internationalist and someone who believes profoundly in our neutrality. It does not matter to me whether we join a UK battle group, the Russian forces or the American forces. They are all the same as far as I am concerned but there is a certain irony in the idea that in 2016, we would align ourselves with a UK battle group 100 years on from when the likes of John Redmond sent 50,000 young Irishmen to be slaughtered in the First World War, as part of the British army. As a pacifist, I find that reprehensible.

It is a fact that NATO and the EU battle groups are synonymous, one and the other. They are the new breed of enforcing imperial power and we, as a neutral country, should have no part in that whatsoever. We only have to read the words of the UK Minister of Defence in 2005, in a letter to the House of Commons, when he described the UK battle groups as being mutually reinforcing with the larger NATO Response Force, and having the potential to act as a stepping stone for countries that want to contribute to the NATO Response Force, by developing their high readiness forces to the required standard and integrating small countries' contribution to the multinational units. Wherever possible and applicable, standards, practical methods and procedures for battle groups are analogous to those defined in the NATO RF. Correctly managed, there is considerable potential for synergy between the two initiatives.

That is what we are talking about and that is the end game in terms of these battle groups. A link between NATO and EU military formations is confirmed. The battle groups allow small countries, such as Ireland, to become integrated in those structures in a manner in which they would not be otherwise. Other EU countries like Malta and Denmark have no part in these formations. We should have no part in them either. I strenuously oppose the initiative.

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