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

They are not offensive. They are essentially a training preparation exercise. Our Army cannot be isolationist and not ever meet or engage with any other army or defence forces. That is an absurd position to adopt. Taking cybersecurity as an example, which is a huge threat to the country. Are we to be isolationist in terms of the threat of cybersecurity in this country? Are we to ignore the expertise around the world in respect of cybersecurity and in terms of hybrid threats that are increasingly a part of war? We need to have our own independent position as we go into engagement with others, certainly, and we need to have our bottom edge. Again, we discussed this earlier when Deputy Gannon raised the issue of the triple lock. The issue now for the forceable future is that Russia will determine whether Ireland ever again participates in a peacekeeping mission. We need to reflect on that. I would argue that this is a curtailment of our own sovereignty if we want to participate in a UN peacekeeping mission in the future. There may not be UN peacekeeping missions in the future because of that very fact and given the way Russia, and to a lessor extent, China, are currently behaving on the Security Council. We need to discuss these things openly.

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