Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Maybe it makes sense because they will be able to sell them arms in the years to come. Irish democracy has consistently been eroded to pave the way for a predominantly Franco-German feverish ambition for a future EU army. It has been facilitated by Fine Gael and previous Governments kowtowing before the European establishment. Irish neutrality was manipulated during the Lisbon treaty process. The use of Shannon Airport is entering its second decade. PESCO was rammed through this Parliament without a proper and full debate. These are all examples of Fine Gael facilitating the undermining of parliamentary scrutiny by the EU for the purposes of its own military ambitions. The process leading to PESCO was by no means democratic. A policy group, which mainly included EU arms industrialists, was intent on finding ways for EU Governments to navigate around their own national sovereignty and neutrality clauses to facilitate greater EU military integration. Fine Gael gladly signed up to this.

Formal approval for the establishment of the European defence fund is being sought from MEPs today and will be sought from Ministers at a later date. However, there is disagreement on the fund’s objectives. A particular issue is the direct or indirect management of the fund by EU member states in the context of reduced parliamentary scrutiny of EU member states. A legal opinion carried out by Professor Andreas Fischer-Lescano found that Article 41 of the Lisbon treaty prohibits the financing of defence and military initiatives, and therefore armaments programmes as well. Despite the serious legal uncertainty about the European defence fund, the European Commission is running its usual course of denial in the hope that the foundational work it has carried out to date to diminish democratic accountability and parliamentary oversight in member states will facilitate the swift approval and implementation of the European defence fund en routeto a future EU army.

This is already happening before our eyes at UN level. A Franco-German masterplan is unfolding under the radar. Germany recently called on France to give up its UN Security Council seat to the EU to enable the bloc to speak with one voice on the global stage. We all know what that voice intends to say. In parallel, France and Germany plan to co-chair the UN Security Council in an effort to emphasise further the EU's military and defence agenda. Perhaps that explains why our Government is so keen to get Ireland onto the UN Security Council. If we can sit with France and Germany on the Security Council, we will be able to close down the triple lock completely. The triple lock now includes Fine Gael in government and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in this Parliament, and it is likely that the UN Security Council representative will be a Fine Gael appointee. This means Fine Gael will have total control over what the triple lock will mean for Ireland in the future. We cannot close our eyes to Fine Gael's sly politics anymore. As long as Fine Gael and its Fianna Fáil partners remain in government, Ireland's neutrality and democracy will continue to be eroded to facilitate private sector interests who profit from the means of death and destruction.

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