Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

This is an absolutely scandalous suggestion. It was not agreed at the Business Committee that there would be a vote on joining the Permanent Structured Cooperation, PESCO, arrangement. This is a move to ram through a vote to move towards joining a European Union army while quadrupling military spending. It would have an effect as significant and damaging to the economy and our society as Brexit and is deeply cynical. I wonder if the quid pro quofor European Union support in the Brexit negotiations is that we sell out our military neutrality and ramp up military expenditure.

See this speech in context