Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

At a time when our Naval Service is shockingly understaffed and the working conditions of our service men and women are in dire need of being addressed, we should be seeking to make our Naval Service fit for purpose and to look after those personnel and value them appropriately. The Commission on the Defence Forces is well underway. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to chart the course of the Naval Service and our Defence Forces in general.

Instead, we are debating Ireland's participation in yet another joint EU exercise within the framework of the European Defence Union, EDU. This is being cloaked as a means of modernising the Naval Service to compensate for decades of underfunding by giving it access to new software and allowing us to collaborate more closely with our European neighbours. There is some innocuous language around a common maritime picture, whereby we will create a common image or map of vessels in EU waters under the European framework and access to the new MARSUR exchange system, MEX, software.

This all seems very positive and, indeed, some of it would be. Some significant issues and concerns remain, however, regarding the new elements being introduced to MARSUR. First, there would be the option of exchanging classified information within the network following implementation. While we should always desire close co-operation and friendly relations with all our international neighbours, questions remain concerning what types of information can be exchanged and what limitation will be placed on this protocol.

Worryingly, the stated aim of this initiative is to enhance MARSUR's operational use of Common Security and Defence Policy, CSDP, missions and operations. This could gradually erode Ireland's capacity to act independently in foreign and defence policy. This only makes sense under the presumption that Ireland's interests will always align with the EU bloc in this area. The fact that the majority of EU countries are also members of NATO should give rise to questions about aligning ourselves entirely with EU policy in the field of foreign affairs and defence, which could undermine Ireland's position of neutrality.

What makes this even worse, however, is that the stated policy of CSDP is to allow the EDU to take over certain areas of capability movement and security in respect of terrorism and natural disasters, but which will allow NATO to handle the defence of territorial integrity. In this way, the EU CSDP acts as a support to NATO strategy and policy, where they both act interdependently. Under current arrangements, Ireland is already acting in the Mediterranean with EU forces. While our activity there is absolutely honourable and saves the lives of many migrants every year, the fact is that it is done under Permanent Structured Cooperation, PESCO, arrangements, meaning that NATO troops are freed up to take part in warfare elsewhere. Ireland does not need to be acting in a supporting capacity to any country participating in warfare abroad.

Under MARSUR III, the participating countries will share software in the context of the MEX system. We will have a common EU database, common EU maps and a common operating system. At what point will our services become so interdependent that it will be impossible to pull back? I was deeply concerned to find out at a recent briefing that Belgian military personnel could not remove themselves from international naval and ground force operations if they wanted to for this exact reason.

We should always collaborate with our neighbours. Joint development and procurement of non-deadly weapons and software, while maintaining our independent system, has a lot of merit. Joint actions in helping migrants have their merits, so long as it is not done with the intention of freeing up NATO forces for other actions. Data protection and cybersecurity collaboration, so long as Ireland maintains independent systems, absolutely has its merits. However, we can work with our partners without losing that independence and without losing our stated non-alignment.

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