Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will come back to the Deputy on the legal obligation. I am not sure of the direct answer to that question and whether that comes out of EU central funds we contribute to or whether it is opt-in funding from a trust fund. I will check that and come back to the Deputy.

The EU needs to spend money in its neighbourhood to support fragile governments. In some cases, it needs to support the training of police officers and military personnel. For example, a number of Irish military personnel have been in Mali on a training mission for a number of years. We are doing that in partnership with the UK and it is the one such peacekeeping operation we are carrying out in partnership with the UK. I was there when I was Minister for Defence. That mission is hugely appreciated and necessary in introducing sophisticated training capacity around demining, civilian protection and so on. To paint EU funding of security training as a bad thing in all circumstances is wrong. While we need transparency in how the money is spent and the results of same, we cannot solely focus on civilian engagement. There also has to be EU support for state actors if they are trying to bring stability to fragile states.

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