Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At the Bratislava summit in September of this year the leaders of the 27 member states concluded "We need the EU not only to guarantee peace and democracy but also the security of our people." I agree with the Minister of State that suggestions will be put to him today and in the future that this is somehow an attack on our neutrality and I reject that completely. It is important to bear in mind that the second Nice treaty introduced a provision into our Constitution affirming that we could not partake in common defence without further amendment to the Constitution. We in Fianna Fáil abide by that.

We also believe, however, that it is in Ireland's best interests to have defence forces that are fit for purpose and able to carry out their duties effectively. The demand for resources is challenging and if there are ways we can boost our defences and ensure there is in place a credible defence policy we should do so. If the European defence action plan can provide opportunities for efficiencies and for making our defence spending go further we should avail of it. Even by the standard of neutral countries our defence spending is very low. What will the Minister of State do to ensure our Defence Forces can take advantage of this plan?

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