Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the opportunity to contribute to this debate. While I agree with and support the three motions before us, I am slightly disappointed that we are only now moving from participating in one PESCO project out of a total of 60 to five projects. That is grossly unambitious. If we are serious about the security of our State and the European Union and if we believe in the true essence of European solidarity, we need to have a real assessment of our role within Europe. That is why I welcome our commitment to participate from the outset on the discussion when it comes to the European strategic compass strategy.

Unlike Deputy Howlin, I do not believe we are chipping away at our neutrality. I very much wish we were, because our military neutrality is an absolute sham. It does not serve us well as a nation or as a people. I fundamentally believe that the responsibility of our Minister for Defence is to ensure the defence and security of this State in co-operation with all our allies. We have allies. We are not non-aligned. It is quite clear we are signed-up members of the European Union, with key partners around the globe that share our vision when it comes to democracy, the rule of law, freedom and human rights. That is clearly embodied by the brutal and vicious attacks on Ukraine and its people by the dictator that is Vladimir Putin.

I will speak specifically to the third motion relating to the four PESCO projects it is proposed that the Defence Forces will participate in. That is the essence of this debate, rather than jumping on other debates or discussing other matters. The four projects deserve individual assessment and individual criticism, where needed, but also discussion by this House. This is quite obvious in respect of the first project, which is about participation in strengthening cybersecurity. We only have to look at the vicious hack on the HSE last year to see the impact of that. We only have to look at the important Government response, which was to work with EU and British allies and the tech sector to identify and solve the problems that hack created. We all know where that cyberattack came from and where the safe harbour for those criminal gangs that participate in such cyberattacks comes from. This goes to the essence of why it is so important we work consistently with our European colleagues to strengthen our security and defence abilities. Warfare has changed. It is not about boots on the ground; it is hybrid warfare. We only have to look at the Belarusian border with Poland to see what the dictator involved is prepared to do. We only need to look at the cyberattacks in Lithuania in the past number of weeks and the cyberattacks that took the Estonian welfare system offline for three whole weeks in 2007 to know what the threats are to our economy. Geography will not protect us.

The second project relates to training for disaster relief. We will see across continental Europe again this year the impact of forest fires, mudslides and all the various natural disasters that are sadly the consequence of the climate emergency we are living with. We need our Defence Forces to be in a position to co-operate with European partners to address mass flooding, not only on this island but across the Continent. It makes eminent sense that we co-operate with 26 other member states, many of which have far greater resources, experience and skill sets, to protect our people, not necessarily from a military enemy but a natural enemy.

The third area is that of emergency medical training. We need to see our Defence Forces participating in this PESCO project. We need to see our medics, be they in the Army, Air Corps or Naval Service, working at the same level with the same methodologies as partners across the European Union. We have seen them benefit from this co-operation in the past. We know it will stand to us in the future.

The fourth project relates to the protection of shipping harbours and offshore infrastructure. Let us not forget the area of our maritime jurisdiction is three times the size of Germany. We all remember the fuss and concern when the Russian navy proposed entering our economic zone off the south-west coast. We know about the response, whether it was glib or serious, of certain Irish fishers to ensure that they could protect that area. How can we, as a small island nation, expect not to co-operate fully with our partners closest to us in developing security and protection for shipping harbours and offshore infrastructure, when we rely on them and will increasingly rely on them in the years to come? That is very obvious when we talk about offshore infrastructure, energy development and energy security, in light of the vicious war in Ukraine.

People often think these debates, especially when it comes to defence policy, are removed from everyday life and are somehow academic. I am well up for that academic debate. I have been trying to contribute to it during my entire involvement in politics, but this is about the practicalities. It is about people in Ireland being able to access medical appointments online, having that sense of assurance that their records are being protected in the health system, and that the Government is working with European partners to protect those records. It is about people in Ireland knowing the best possible resources will be put in place, God forbid, if a major flood or natural disaster were to happen on this island, in co-operation with European partners. It is about the people of Ireland knowing that if Irish soldiers, sailors or pilots get seriously injured, they will have medics on hand who are trained to the best possible capabilities and who are working with European partners to save their lives. It is about the mum or dad who knows that their son or daughter is deployed somewhere overseas, in harm's way and putting himself or herself in danger, but also knows the best possible training has been provided. It is about our fishers, people who rely on energy and everyone in the maritime area knowing the best level of co-operation and security is there.

There has been a concerted campaign to misrepresent what PESCO is about. There have been glib references to a European army. I have repeatedly seen the ability of people to take speeches made by individual European representatives, use them out of context and make statements about PESCO that are completely inaccurate. If we spend any time contributing to debates at European level, following our Ministers at Council meetings or our Members of the European Parliament or looking at the discussion that is happening across Europe, we cannot continue to believe we live in blissful isolation when it comes to protecting our people and the people to whom we have a responsibility in the European Union.

We have before us three very basic motions. Two of them relate to our participation in the United Nations, which I know will continue.

That service goes far beyond the work of our peacekeepers in the Defences Forces, and also includes the work of An Garda Síochána in Cyprus and many other areas of co-operation. The motion on our participation in four additional PESCO projects is a crucial one. Looking at the other 55 PESCO projects that Ireland is not participating in, some of which we are an observer in and some of which we have no involvement in at all, there is massive potential. Points have been made about the retention and recruitment of staff into the Defence Forces. One aspect that is often overlooked is the purpose of staff. What are we training our soldiers, sailors, pilots and aircraft technicians to do? We must ensure they are trained to perform to the best of their ability so they can not only earn a living and get the terms and conditions they need, but also that they can also strengthen their skills, develop their careers and be the best that they can be in defending this State. I speak with current and former members of the Defence Forces on a regular basis, whether they are constituents or people who have contacted me who have an interest in the area. Many of them want to see further opportunities to use their skills to work with partners around the EU to ensure they can be the best that they can be and that their career in our Defence Forces is a lot longer than five, six or seven years in length and can be a lifelong career.

In conclusion, I support the three motions before the House. If others want to use this forum to make wider contributions about our defence security and neutrality, I welcome that, but we are having this debate now. We must be prepared to make it an honest debate. We must set out exactly what our responsibilities are to the people of Ireland, the people of the EU and all of our natural allies.

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