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

We should take the opportunity to congratulate the Chief of Staff, Seán Clancy, on being elected by his peers as chair of the European Union military committee, which involves a role in co-ordination and consultation across EU militaries in respect of peace enforcement, peacekeeping and conflict prevention.

That reflects well on the Defence Forces and needs to be said.

When the Deputy referenced "game playing", Russia and China are not game playing. Unfortunately, the world is changing. We are strongly committed to the United Nations and I disagree with this attempt to embroil the issue of the triple lock with military neutrality. We have no plans to join any military alliance. We have no plans to join NATO. Removing the triple lock simply enables us to participate in peacekeeping missions into the future or, indeed, evacuation. We can clarify the law around how we deploy troops to evacuate Irish citizens in areas where war or conflict has broken out. That is the context of the legislation. Any future peacekeeping missions will, without question, be within the framework of the chapters within the UN and also will need Dáil and Government approval.

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