Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Ó Snodaigh has said that this is about increasing military spending. The objective is actually to pool spending in order to increase efficiencies on the part of every member state that partakes in what is proposed. The European defence fund being proposed by the Commission represents a great opportunity for our country. We have a very tight military budget. I do not believe that we spend enough on our Defence Forces. They do not have the resources they need - through no fault of their own - to operate effectively.

There are two tranches to this: the research window and the capabilities window. The research window would fund collaborative research in innovative and strategic defence technologies. For example, technologies could include electronics, metamaterials, encrypted software and robotics. As a collective, we could achieve advances in technology. The capability window would support member states in joint spending. This is not about increasing the number of bombs or guns. We spend money on helicopters and other technologies for our Defence Forces in order that they can protect our citizens. We could pool resources to get a better price on those. Rather than taking the cynical view, there are actual savings to be made. Ireland is a small country with a small budget. To be able to pool collectively to create greater efficiencies and economies of scale is a good thing for Ireland. We need to recognise that. What is the Minister proposing to do to increase our ability of procurement in order to increase our capabilities?

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