Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Is trua nach bhfuil an tAire cuí anseo. Bhí mé ag labhairt leis ag an gcoiste faoi na gnéithe seo díreach coicís ó shin. Labhair mé ag an staid sin faoin fhadhb atá agam agus mé ag déileáil le ceisteanna mar seo, ach go háiritihe toisc go bhfuil bogadh leanúnach ag tarlú insan Eoraip. Is bogadh leanúnach é i dtreo breis míleatú san Eoraip. In ainneoin nach bhfuil mórán faidhbe ollmhóir agam leis an dá togra atá á phlé anseo, caithfimid i gcónaí comhthéacs a bheith againn ar an méid atá ag tarlú. Sa chás seo, is é an comhthéacs ina iomlán an fhadhb.

It is more the motions than the projects described in their contents with which I have a problem, as I stated at the committee meeting. It would be very difficult to oppose the efficiencies that would help our Defence Forces gain experience and knowledge. In this instance we are told the MARSUR II project will enhance the Naval Service's ability to fulfil the humanitarian task it is carrying out brilliantly in the Mediterranean. The second motion deals with virtual scenarios to deal with cyber security and attacks on military cyber security, etc. It relates to the experience that will be gained by those in the military dealing cyber security.

I raised some questions surrounding both projects at the select committee. The Minister of State answered some of those questions but I still have concerns about our ability to protect our interests in the cyber security area, even though it is a virtual project in itself.

The context in which we are dealing with the EDA and the militarisation of the EU has shifted greatly in the past two weeks in light of the election of Donald Trump as US President. Before and during the presidential debate, Donald Trump and others in the US demanded that the EU should take on a greater role in its own defence. He put it to the NATO countries and other countries that they had a role to play. As a result of this State signing up to the Lisbon treaty, we have agreed to enhance the capability of each of the individual EU armies. The other part of the context for this debate is the agreement at yesterday's meeting of EU foreign and defence Ministers to move quickly in reaction to the agenda set out by Donald Trump by trying to distance themselves from it. That was specifically why the meeting was held. The Ministers agreed to create a military headquarters, or "permanent operational planning and conduct capability", to command "non-executive military missions". They further agreed that the battle groups should be used more frequently.

Last week, I raised with the Minister the decision to use the EU budget for the first time to subsidise military research. I highlighted the preparatory action for defence research spending of €80 million on EU military research. If this goes ahead and there is not enough clamour about it, there is a proposal that they will move towards spending €3.5 billion of EU money on military research by 2020. That is a major shift, given that the EU won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012. The EU, as a group of nations, is supposed to be advancing and enhancing peace in the world, but its recent actions are in total contradiction to that. This should not be a surprise given that many of these countries have an imperialist status and are members of NATO. The EDA is part of the EU military complex. For that reason, I oppose motions that come before the House with the intention of enhancing the agency.

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