Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

We will not be a military power, despite the fact that the Tánaiste wishes to purchase six jets at some point. Even those six jets will not keep us safe from what the Government fears might happen. They would only allow it to play war games in an area in which we have no role or space. What we are good at, and what we have always been good at, is being people who can actually act in the name of peace and be the people who stand through it even when it is difficult to talk about peace. That does not seem to be what is happening, however.

Apparently, we were given a lesson in diplomacy last week when the Taoiseach went to the White House. I accept the general consensus that it was somehow a success. While I make no judgment of him for making the visit, I doubt our barometers of success in that regard. We had to stand in a room while the leader of the free world, who himself has been found guilty of sexual assault, belittled those we call our partners in the European Union. He effectively called us shysters and that we were somehow underhanded in our engagement. We sat there and nodded and got clapped on the head. That was seen as a success. He then platformed another rapist and we had to sit there and look silently as well. Apparently, that was a success. That very same day we woke up and were told that our EU partners were being hit with tariffs of substantial amounts and we said nothing. The next day we were told that Irish alcohol imports would be hit with massive tariffs and still it was considered a success. Is that the standard now? If it is, I think we can be better than that. We can be more than that. Obviously, diplomacy has gaming built into it but I am not sure we are playing it very well in the way we are approaching it.

We did not used to be like this. There was a time when we were stronger, held more and were better. To use a Fianna Fáil example, Frank Aiken was, for me, someone in the UN who demonstrated the very best of what Ireland could be when we believe in multilateralism and see ourselves as more than the small nation that can simply join other military alliances. We built proud traditions, the foundations of which are being pulled apart by the same people who claim to carry the legacy. It is a bit pathetic.

There is a hypocrisy that is unimaginable. When it comes to our triple lock, we are told we have to remove it because we do not want Russia having any say where we send our peacekeeping troops, but we see no hypocrisy in the fact that Donald Trump’s America gets to influence very specifically our foreign policy when it comes to the occupied territories Bill.

That is clearly what is happening. Approximately five months ago, I was in a committee room with the Taoiseach, who was then the Tánaiste, as he told us that the first item on the agenda of the new Government, if elected, would be to progress the occupied territories Bill. It is clearly nowhere. It is not actually coming. The idea of who we are is being diminished. There are clouds gathering. The world seems different. As many other Deputies have said, the world is changing. But is it? In the years since the Second World War, conflict has been ever present - pick whichever conflict you want - but we have had the institutions that were built out of the concept of "never again". We are removing ourselves from them, though. The triple lock was an agreement that the then Government made with the Irish people to say, "Do not worry, you may not trust getting involved in any military alliances, but the triple lock will be there as an assurance". Now, it is being taken away. It did not feature in anyone's programme for Government before the election. It used to be well on record in the Minister of State's manifesto but we are not just talking about him. We are talking about the Government he is a part of.

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