Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Irish people have not moved. They are utterly committed to what we might call military neutrality or non-alignment. They are committed to that position. We are shown respect across the international scene as a fair player and a moral authority on the basis of our neutrality and non-alignment. It is also on the basis of our history of being the colonised rather than the coloniser.

It is also fair to say that during the brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russia, when others started talking about weapons and all the rest of it, the Minister said there was no requirement for Ireland to be a military superpower. I would like to think that is a situation that will continue. Not only do people respect our position and the work we have done as regards peacekeeping, we have a strong message as a result of the Irish peace process and all that has brought us and all that it can bring us into the future. That is respected throughout the world and is almost a template for best practice to move us to a better place than we are in now.

On peacekeeping, the people in my own home town of Dundalk and of County Donegal felt both pride and pain at the loss of Private Sean Rooney. We have earned that respect for peacekeeping. We have paid an enormous toll. I would not like us to move to a place where some of the commentary has been coming from in the past while. There has not been sufficient over and back in this House or anywhere else about moves that have been made over many years. I have heard some reassuring commentary today to the effect there will not be movement towards NATO but I cannot say that every position that has been taken and that every comment we have heard from some Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael commentators is as positive as that. It would be fair to say the Irish people could not stand over a huge number of the positions that have been taken by NATO and NATO powers, particularly the US, over many years.

Like colleagues, I would much prefer that we were dealing with a citizens' assembly as a means of having a proper over and back and real engagement with the Irish people. I have worries about the consultative forum. We have to look at enshrining neutrality and military non-alignment in our Constitution. There will, therefore, have to be talk of a referendum.

We can think of the humanitarian nightmare we dealt with in Sudan. We have the not-so-secret deal with the RAF and an absolute absence of any real commentary in that respect. It has shown that we have a huge issue as regards resourcing and capacity, particularly at sea and in the air. We all know about the issues around the work conditions and retention in the Irish Defence Forces. These are enormous issues with which we need to deal.

When we are speaking about capacity, we all accept we live in a changed world. We all accept we are dealing with hybrid and cyber dangers. The problem is we have not sufficiently invested in the National Cyber Security Centre, NCSC. We have not had that conversation where defence meets critical infrastructure as regards reviewing what dangers there are with communication cables and all the rest of it. The Minister earlier engaged with Deputy Doherty on issues relating to social media. We have had organised and non-organised malign online actors. The social media companies have not played their parts. Particular cases are being brought against Facebook and the manner in which it has been weaponised by state players in the likes of Burma. We need to be a straight player across the board. We need to be a straight player on the international scene, and that extends not only to showing solidarity with Ukraine, which is absolutely necessary. I would like to see the Government making moves on the divestment Bill. It is not particularly sound for the State to be a shareholder in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine.

There is no shortage of issues with which we have to deal. I would like to think we will look at the Irish national liberation struggle, which was about freedom, sovereignty and fair and just internationalism. I do not think the Irish people have moved and I would like to think we will remember that.

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