John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. He will have all-party support, I hope, once the bases are covered. Those bases are the retention, remuneration and conditions of members of our Defence Forces.

That needs to be at the core of anything that comes before us. I refer to the possibility of there being contention. Unfortunately, we have seen the debate segue from discussion on what the Defence Forces will look like in future. The whole issue of neutrality is starting to seep into the conversation. I do not want the situation in Ukraine to be used by some to abandon our position of military neutrality, in which regard we have a proud tradition. If the debate and conversation moves into that space, the Minister will receive serious opposition from those of us on this side of the House. This is about putting in place a Defence Forces of which we can be proud, one that will be able to honour its mandate in terms of our UN role across the world. It is about ensuring we will have the capacity to build on to ensure our footprint and the soft power we have is expanded.

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