Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on the ratification of EU and NATO SOFAs, and that the topic is returning to the House in a short number of months. I listened carefully from my office to the earlier speakers such as Deputy Wallace and others, who made good statements, because I wanted to follow exactly what was said.

I congratulate our Defence Forces on the efforts they make. While I acknowledge the Minister of State also respects their efforts very much, I would like the Government to reward them more. The people who go abroad on peacekeeping missions and who have done so for many years deserve our respect, gratitude and, while we are at it, proper pay. Similarly, the members of the Defence Forces who remain in the country and who play an important role, especially when they are called upon in emergencies from time to time, are treated as second-class citizens, with which I do not agree. They play an important role and those who go on peacekeeping missions have always had a respectable name, whether at home or abroad. They should be treated better than they have been.

To return to the motion, I listened with interest to Deputy Wallace's contribution on US politics. Whenever I think about America, my first thought is of the gratitude for all the people, including many from my family, who left here, went to America and were damn glad to land there. They were damn glad to find work there, have a way of life and get on with rearing their families, and they appreciated it very much. While we can all have our differences of opinion on politics and the way the United States operates around the world, it is not right for us as a country to criticise in the House a place that has been good to us. We greatly appreciate the jobs that have been created here by Americans and the contributions they make to our society. As the saying goes, I would rather be looking at them than looking for them, any day of the week. Likewise, in the case of the jobs our families got when they went to America, I would rather be looking at them than looking for them. As a neutral country, we must be careful to protect and enhance our role as a neutral country, and we cannot have it both ways, as Deputy Mattie McGrath noted. Our neutrality is acknowledged in Europe and around the world. We have a respectable reputation and, in considering the motion, we must be conscious of such issues.

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