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

This is an absolute scandal. So much for the supposed support of the Ministers of State, Deputies Finian McGrath and Halligan, and the Minister, Deputy Ross, for Ireland's neutrality. It will be interesting to see how their supporters react to this and how they can justify such a move. The Minister of State has just said that the Government accepts this and that ties these three Ministers or Ministers of State, who have given their support for neutrality in this Chamber, to this move. This is a scandal. The aim of PESCO is to develop defence capabilities jointly and make them available for EU military operations. That is at odds with Irish neutrality. Our capabilities should be available to the UN and the UN only. The Minister of State should bear in mind that it also allows for the EU to act alone. It is not obliged to act with UN support. It can also be used to support NATO operations. When we raised this during the debate on the Lisbon treaty, we were told that we were scaremongering. Here we are a few years later and we have been proven right. Ultimately, the Minister of State is talking about going to war.

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