Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have an opportunity to speak to this motion on the European Defence Agency. The Government is good at bringing these motions forward and having them passed in the House. Like other Deputies, I have the utmost respect for our Army and navy. We need to support, respect and pay their members. We are doing none of that other than paying lip service to it. We have seen during the Covid pandemic how important the Army has been to us in helping with quarantine arrangements and God knows what else. The Army is always there, its members out on the roads and everything else, getting a fraction of the subsistence payments members of the Garda Síochána receive. It is downright insulting.

The Commission on the Defence Forces is looking at pay and conditions. Action must be taken on these issues. We have seen a flight of very experienced personnel. I suspect there might be much more of that when the airlines reopen and some pilots have gone on to different careers. Our Defence Forces personnel are highly trained and skilled and have spent decades of their lives in service. They simply cannot afford to stay in situ. That is a fact, not a political point. We are good at supporting the types of projects we are discussing and linking up with our European colleagues, but we are not so good at supporting our own. Ní neart go cur le chéile. Where is that attitude when it comes to our Defence Forces?

I have a further concern for this neutral country of De Valera, God rest him. I am worried by the things that are going on in Europe and have been going on for a long time. If we have European vaccine passports, this surveillance system will be used to spy on our own people, who must have vaccine passports to travel. Where will our freedom be gone? It was dearly fought for by the men of 1916, 1921, 1922 and 1923. We have talked about vaccine passports during the Covid debates in this House. However, in 2018 and 2019, committees of the EU were looking at vaccine passports, before we ever had a pandemic or so-called pandemic. The issue was being discussed at that time and the minutes of the meetings are on the record. It is known that the EU was discussing those proposals and how to roll them out. I have a deep suspicion now of the EU and of our participation in what is going on. Are we serving the people? I do not think so. We are serving greater masters, greater powers and greater countries. We also have Brexit and all the troubles associated with it. Is it any wonder we have it? The UK was not going to put up with that nonsense. It is a proud nation and we had many difficulties with it over the centuries.

We have to re-examine the situation fully. Just passing motions like this one without having a full understanding of what they are is not good enough. We certainly do not have that full understanding of this motion, although the defence committee looked at it and talked about it. Everything in here is gone very strange lately. To think that the Green Party is supporting this motion is amazing. I suppose it is a quid pro quofor Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael being forced to support unpalatable measures in the climate action Bill. We are getting a Dolly Mixture or a Christmas cake. It is a damn bad mixture and I would say it will be a long time before the dough rises up to suitable proportions for the eating of a nice cake. It is not a very pretty cake. I say we should make haste slowly on this matter and ensure we have a greater understanding of what are the real issues behind it.

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