Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. In recent weeks we have heard mention of being politically active and militarily neutral. I am only aware of it having come up recently. Nobody has ever said we should not be politically active. Nobody has ever said we should not be putting our views across in any situation. The question is about military neutrality. That is always been the question and has always been the concern. Some of the Minister's recent statements about the EU developments have also been of concern. He said there is a good chance that we will be involved in the rapid reaction forces that are being discussed at the moment. He has mentioned that some people are uncomfortable with the triple lock because the UN Security Council mandates could be blocked by Russia or China. I wonder who those people are because I have not heard anybody talk about being uncomfortable with the triple lock. The triple lock is a very worthwhile process. That is the only security we have in terms of our neutrality at this stage.

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