Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A very worrying thing is beginning to happen in this House where there is a basic lack of respect for the mandate of people who sit on this side of the House. Deputy Connolly has come in here and said that I do not have the trust and respect of the Irish people. I got elected to Dáil Éireann on the same day as she did, as did my colleagues. Together we formed a majority of the people's representatives. We put in our manifesto that if we were elected to government, we would reform the triple lock. We told the Irish people before the election. We do not need any caustic remarks that if people in this House do not like the way we vote somehow or other we have lost the trust and respect. I would not accuse Deputy Connolly of losing trust and respect. I have the trust and respect of my constituents which was just renewed a couple of months ago and we have formed a Government. This is democracy in action. It is not just democracy if you like the outcome. We do not need a citizens' assembly. We have one; here it is. This is the citizens' assembly, the National Parliament where the men and women elected by citizens of this country get sent to debate and discuss issues. If we can do it in a respectful manner, I think we will be very productive.

Deputy Ó Laoghaire asked a valid question. It is not the UN; it is the UN Security Council veto. It is the Vladimir Putin veto that actually has a real ability. Vladimir Putin has no right to say where the men and women of Óglaigh na hÉireann can go on peacekeeping missions. I will not comment on his election, but he certainly was not elected to this Dáil. There have been a number of times - for example in 1999 where a permanent member of UN Security Council vetoed the renewal of the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force as a subsequent EU peace operation to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia did not have a Security Council mandate. Ireland wanted to participate but we were unable to participate in that. More recently in 2015 the EU established a security mission in the Mediterranean known as Operation Sophia. The mission did not have a UN mandate until 2016 and as a result Ireland's participation was delayed by over a year. The same concerns as regards Operation Althea have since arisen where a potential UN Security Council member veto would have resulted in Ireland having to withdraw from the mission.

Finally in 2017 the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre (Narcotics), which is an international maritime intelligence centre supported by the EU, requested a Naval Service ship to assist with maritime drug interdiction operations. Although Ireland is an extraordinarily strong supporter of that centre and indeed was one of the founding members of the centre, a ship could not be sent there because there was not a UN Security Council mandate. There are real challenges here and we should work through them in a sensible and respectful manner.

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