Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I assure the House that nobody is seeking to use the war in Ukraine to do anything apart from to have an honest conversation in respect of what our security needs are, how we respond to them and how, as a member of the European Union and a contributing state on this Continent, we can contribute to peace and security on the Continent of Europe. That is a perfectly valid debate to have. Ireland's neutrality, which is defined as non-alignment in terms of a defence pact, is one thing but Ireland is not neutral on the war in Ukraine. We have not been neutral on it since the start. We have contributed €44 million to Ukraine to support the Ukrainian military to defend itself and its people from the kind of horrors we saw yesterday, which was state-sponsored terrorism involving the targeting of a shopping mall with cruise missiles. We are not neutral on that. What we are focusing on in terms of the report of the commission, however, is not Ireland's traditional stance of military neutrality; it is about capacity issues for the Defence Forces to be able to do the job that we ask of them. It is about ensuring there are sufficient numbers in the Defence Forces and they are well equipped and resourced to do the increasingly complex job we ask of them.

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