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

The Deputy continues to raise these issues and I hope I continue to provide reassurance. As somebody who is very much involved in foreign policy and defence policy, let me reassure him that Ireland is not in the space of being part of a more militarised EU. We are in the space of co-operating with other EU countries when we can be a force for good in different parts of the world. That is what we are trying to do now in Mali, for example, where a number of our Defence Forces personnel are working in the EU operations. They are embedded with a German contingent and it works really well. We are also part of an EU training mission with other European countries, which is working well.

The expertise and skill set of Irish troops is being applied to try to save lives; that is what we do. We should not apologise for it or reframe that as somehow compromising Irish neutrality because it does not. We choose to go on whatever mission we go on. We go through a process in the Dáil and in the Government to make sure that is fully understood and transparent in terms of the decision-making process. That is what active neutrality means. We are not forced into any of these missions.

See this speech in context