Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The strategic compass has been described as a pathway for European security and defence capabilities with the aim of developing a sovereign European strategy, resulting in smarter co-operation. It has the strong backing of the French President, Emmanuel Macron, who stated, when France assumed the Presidency of the European Union, "we must move from a Europe of cooperation within our borders to a Europe that is powerful in the world, fully sovereign, free in its choices and master of its destiny". We know security and defence no longer just involve military conflict and that hybrid warfare is now a real issue. The cyberattack on the HSE brought this matter clearly home to us in Ireland. What is the Minister's understanding of the strategic compass? What role will Ireland play in it, given our tradition of peacekeeping around the world? Will we bring our unique traditions to those negotiations?

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