Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Deputies O'Rourke and Haughey mentioned cybersecurity. I do not know whether Deputy O'Rourke is for us participating in this security centre. He is. The NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence is a multinational and interdisciplinary hub of cyber defence and it is located in Tallinn. It is staffed and financed by member nations and it is not part of NATO's military command or force structure. We applied for contributing participant status in November 2019 and the formal process to finalise accession is expected to conclude later this year. A member of the Defence Forces has been on secondment there as a national expert since November 2020. Our national expert works in the cyber operations branch and currently undertakes research on cybersecurity, cyber defence, planning processes and cyber threat intelligence gathering. Officials from the NCSC also engage in training provided by the centre.

I agree with Deputy Haughey's perspectives. It was Fianna Fáil that led Ireland to joining the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons so we have a strong commitment to nuclear non-proliferation as a political party. We see that as a positive part of our military neutrality to date. Neutrality is a policy question. If we were to join a European defence pact that would be a matter for a referendum because the Constitution would have to be changed to facilitate that. We should have a reflective and informed debate and I have suggested the citizens' assembly as a way we could do that.

See this speech in context