Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am having an out-of-body experience here. I am in favour of Irish neutrality. The Government of Ireland is in favour of Irish neutrality. The Government of Ireland values Irish neutrality. I spend a significant amount of my working week travelling the world explaining to colleagues, partners and counterparts why we value our neutrality. I also value this place and the democratic mandate of the men and women elected to Dáil Éireann in the context of decisions relating to our Defence Forces. The idea of seconding that out to anybody else is ludicrous. The idea of seconding it out to somebody such as Vladimir Putin is downright illogical. We need to be able to have a sensible debate. We need to publish the legislation,. None of the Deputies has seen the legislation yet but they are all against it. We need to then send it to an Oireachtas committee and scrutinise it. I welcome the fact that Deputy Ó Laoghaire at least is willing to do that.

I take the point about how people were in favour of the triple lock at one time but are now not in favour of it. However, I would respectfully say that the world has changed. There was a time when we used to invite Russian presidents to this country, shake their hands, welcome them and engage. Vladimir Putin is involved in an invasion of a country on the Continent of Europe. The context has changed.

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