Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

That is the additionality the Government is talking about. It is 1%. In truth, we are not serious. In this country, we are really good at developing and devising policies. I hear the Tánaiste is going to have another document produced in the next couple of months. We will have had a forum, White Papers, discussion documents and reports. If we are ever invaded, we will have enough reports, documentation and White Papers to barricade our ports but, based on the way things are going, we will not have much in the way of military equipment. The point of the Consultative Forum on International Security Policy was to devise a strategy than can actually be funded.

I have run out of time but I set out my vision of neutrality and that of my party in my last contribution on this subject. We need a proper debate and I asked for that at the time. Quite frankly, asking Opposition Members to speak for six and a half minutes on such an important subject is totally and wholly inadequate. Let us have a proper debate on where we should go. I believe we can build a consensus on the type of neutrality we can present. Let us try to do that in a proper debate and a proper forum, allowing everybody's views to be heard before mediating a way forward.

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