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

The reason we have consistently said that the triple lock needs to change is that the powers on the Security Council should not be able to stop or veto Ireland's participation in a peacekeeping mission. It is absolutely nothing to do with military neutrality as is asserted time and again in this House. Nothing. It is a pragmatic and sensible decision to take. We should control the destiny of how we participate in peacekeeping. We should control those decisions in this House and by the Government of the day. We have a very honourable tradition of peacekeeping in this country. I pay tribute to members of the Defence Forces. Over the last number of years we have significantly increased pay and conditions and it was unfair of the Deputy not to acknowledge that. Over a year ago now we introduced, for example, free secondary care for every member of the Defence Forces. We have increased starting pay in the Defence Forces such that it is significantly better now than many starting pay levels of many other public servants, or indeed people in the private sector. I invite the Deputy to study that. Last year we significantly increased allowances such as doubling of the patrol duty allowance. This was a very significant move for our Naval Service. Last year for the first time since 2017 we turned a corner in having a net increase of recruitment into our Defence Forces. We need much more, of course. We have invested hugely in barracks, in accommodation, and in the naval base. We will continue to invest hugely. There will be a master plan for every barracks, for Baldonnel and for the Naval Service. We have to increase defence capability in this country. We must do it in a progressive way and in a way that makes sense in terms of procurement capacity. There is all sorts of talk about doubling this and doubling that but the bottom line is we have to do it in an organised way and - in the spirit of the moment - a value-for-money way. It is not about throwing money at the defence issue or the capability issue. Procurement takes time. We have to assess what we need and what the vulnerabilities are. Cyber security is one key area and sub-sea cables is another. We are investing in our capability and our resilience in that respect.

We are facing potentially tectonic changes in the global world order. On the other hand, the European Union has resolved, and I agree with this, to continue engagement with the United States Government and Administration, which is crucial to the Europe-US relationship and to the Ireland-US relationship. I believe that President Macron's visit yesterday was a positive step in the right direction in that regard.

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