Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----and being involved in those kinds of programme.

For other countries in Europe, PESCO is going to be something different. They are going to opt as a bloc, en masse, into everything because they want Europe to be able to defend itself. France is in a different place than us, for example. So is Germany. Even now 70 years after the Second World War, there are American troops in Germany as part of Europe's defence. Europe as a continent needs to move away from that. We should be able to defend ourselves and not rely on Americans to do so, but that is not why we are joining. We are joining coming from a particularly distinct Irish perspective, where we are a neutral non-aligned country joining on the same basis as Austria, Sweden and Finland, opting into programmes as we wish to do so.

On this particular issue, and as we are mentioning the Defence Forces, it is worth informing the House that a Defence Forces exercise is taking place today in the Dublin area that will allow them to practice various operational and tactical procedures. Approximately 500 members of the Defence Forces, including the Army Ranger Wing, explosive ordnance disposal team and specialist search engineering team will be in Dublin today. In addition, the Air Corps and the Naval Service will provide support. The Defence Forces are working closely with the Garda in this exercise. The exercise will also help them to develop their procedures with An Garda Síochána and other emergency services and build their preparedness. The Defence Forces constantly prepare on an ongoing basis to support the civil authorities in the event of a national security incident. This exercise today is a part of our preparations for that.

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