Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We will not be supporting the motion. We do not agree with the strengthening of the links between the arms industry and national governments in Europe and we certainly do not think Ireland should have anything to do with any of them. In putting money onto any of these things, we have no idea where it will end up and what it will be used for. Obviously the whole focus of fortress Europe now is on preventing refugees getting into Europe rather than preventing others from bombing their homes, making refugees of them in the first place.

I am really disappointed that Fianna Fáil and Labour are prepared to support the motion. Perhaps I should not be shocked; maybe I am too naïve for this place.

The head of the European Defence Agency, Jorge Domecq, said: "What is missing or really killing our defence effort is [that] we do it in an isolated and fragmented manner." If Ireland is going to sign up and be part of some sort of European army, whatever form it takes, God help us all. At the moment European countries are spending €200 billion on arms. This is all madness. This is driven primarily by the US where, if there was a decrease in worldwide war efforts today, huge numbers of jobs would be lost in America. Promoting the arms industry in America today is one of the prime reasons that we have such wars and destruction going on worldwide. More than 60 million people are displaced because of war. It is just nuts; it does not solve anything. People do not make bombs, fighter planes and guns to make peace; they do it to make war.

We are involved in it. The fact that we still facilitate the war effort by allowing Shannon to be used is crazy. We should not be signing up to this and I do not believe the Irish people would agree to our signing up to this. There is currently a huge effort to increase the whole security arrangement in Europe. It feeds the arms industry. We keep dropping bombs on people in order to create people who cause problems like ISIS. It is just nonsense.

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