Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

One of the obvious examples of Ireland deferring to European Union foreign policy relates to a decision in respect of the Russian ambassador. In other words, people were being told that collective decisions are the strongest decisions. When we have collective indecision, however, that is not strong in any way. It brings us nowhere. We have collective indecision in the European Union in that regard.

One of the main conversations in this country while Ireland has had this role in the UN is about whether Ireland should be giving arms to Ukraine. Fine Gael Deputies have used the time to debate how we should shed our neutrality instead of actually using the competency we built up as peace workers throughout the planet. The House has spent time on how we can move towards military blocks. It is important for me to recognise that there have been positives, and I do welcome them, but there is far more we can do in respect of Afghanistan, Yemen, China, Palestine and Myanmar. The Minister mentioned the issue of climate and security. I ask him to do more on that because climate change will be one of the biggest threats to security in future.

See this speech in context