Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will share time with Deputy Seamus Healy.

The Green Party will not support the call for Ireland to join Operation Sophia. We do so reluctantly because we wish to support the Naval Service in everything it does. It has done a remarkable job in recent years. Under this proposal, the Naval Service would shift from a humanitarian rescue mission to a peace-enforcement-type mission. This would be contrary to our interests and tradition as a neutral nation and would change our approach in a way that undermines the wider peacekeeping efforts we must undertake. Ireland brings a particular role and benefit to humanitarian peacekeeping missions. Losing our reputation in this area and moving away from our peacekeeping tradition is not in the interests of Europe, Ireland or those whom we seek to protect.

During my time in government, I had the great honour of visiting the headquarters of the United Nations mission in Chad, which was a joint mission involving European and non-European armies. It was an incredibly complex, dangerous and difficult mission which the Defence Forces carried out with great professionalism and skill. Our military showed great intelligence as regards its position. The Defence Forces headed the mission and an Irish officer was appointed its chief of staff. Other countries realised that we were neutral and they had a sense that Ireland does not have a colonialist or imperialist past. This gave us great strength and is a great resource which we must and can deploy.

This is a particularly sensitive time in terms of Europe regaining its confidence and seeking greater co-ordination. However, I fear that certain countries and interests in Europe are pressing for greater European military integration, which is not the correct approach for Ireland or Europe. We can see signs of this trend everywhere. At the Committee on Budgetary Oversight last week, we learned from the vice president of the European Investment Bank, EIB, of a drive by the European Council - the Taoiseach last week reported to the Dáil on its recent meeting - to have the EIB take a role in lending to the armaments industry. This conflicts with the tradition of the institution and threatens its ability to raise green bonds and engage in low interest rate lending. This drive by certain European countries or authorities is only one example of a post-Brexit trend involving certain countries seeking to strengthen Europe through military operations and other means. This is not in our interests or part of our tradition and we should shy away from it.

None of us is blind to the tragedy unfolding in Libya. The country is experiencing a major humanitarian crisis as people migrate from other countries to use it as a leaping off point on their journey to Europe. These people are experiencing horrendous conditions and no one wants to stand idly by as they are caught in a pincer between the countries they are fleeing and the marine border with Europe. The issue is extremely difficult and Ireland has adopted the correct approach by engaging in a humanitarian rescue mission. If we join a peace enforcement mission, even if it only involves providing logistics support, we will be connected to a military operation. The front-line military aspects of a mission account for only a fraction of the massive logistics exercise required. Once we join such a mission, I fear we will become part of what caused the problem in the first instance. France, Britain and the United Stations showed incredible recklessness and disregard for recent and distant history when they bombed Libya into its current anarchy. Ireland should be especially cautious for this reason. Admittedly, the position in Libya is extremely difficult because the country is experiencing anarchy. No one knows, for example, if a coast guard vessel belongs to the Libyan Government or is involved in a pirate operation. No one denies that these extremely difficult circumstances require a sensitive intervention to support refugees who are in danger of drowning. At the same time, we must not impose further military solutions given that military actions partially caused the entire problem in the first instance.

The Green Party does not agree with Ireland becoming involved in Operation Sophia. We concur with the conclusions of the various international reports cited by previous speakers, including the report from the House of Lords that makes the case for non-military intervention. This is the correct advice and Ireland can and should be part of such a humanitarian mission. We are sceptical and nervous because we are seeing an increasingly militarised response to the problem. We are proud of the Defence Forces and their tradition of peacekeeping. We should stick to our strengths. Europe and the rest of the world benefit when we stand as a neutral voice with a proud tradition of peacekeeping. I am nervous that we are stepping away from that. This is part of a wider trend about which we must be careful.

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