Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

There is a real drive to increase military spending in Ireland that, in my opinion, is part of a push to completely abandon any notion of neutrality and to instead align with NATO and the permanent structured co-operation push for an EU army. All of that is clear from the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. It is pushing for up to an additional €2 billion in military spending annually. It thinks it is a bad thing that we spend significantly less than other EU countries on the military, whereas I think it is a good thing. For €2 billion a year, we could scrap all college fees, provide free school meals for every primary and secondary school student and still have enough left over to make all public transport free and to lift the basic pay of all Defence Forces staff, or we could spend it on warships and fighter jets. Even if we increased the military budget to €3 billion a year, what would that achieve? Britain spends 20 times that amount, as does Russia. It is about aligning with NATO. Is it welfare or warfare?

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