Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach as ucht an chead sin a oscailt suas dom labhairt leis an Teach trathnóna faoi na ceisteanna tábhachtacha a bhaineann le cúrsaí slándála idirnáisiúnta. Mar atá ráite ag Teachtaí timpeall an tí, is mór againn é labhairt faoi na mórcheisteanna seo agus comhrá aibí a bheith againn faoi céard a bhfuil in ann don tír seo, agus céard iad na cinntí a chaithfimid a dhéanamh mar thír, ó thaobh cúrsaí slándála de, agus an stádas atá againn i leith na tíortha eile a bhfuilimid ag comhoibriú leo, mar aon leis na hullmhúcháin dár gcuid féin atá muid ag déanamh. Níl aon amhras ach go bhfuil an aeráid geopholaitiúil tar éis athrú an-chuid le seachtainí anuas, agus caithfimid aghaidh a thabhairt air sin.

Le linn dom a bheith ag labhairt tráthnóna, ceann de na rudaí a bheidh mé ag labhairt faoi ná an comhthéacs athraithe sin, céard a chiallaíonn sé don méid atá in ann dúinne mar thír ó thaobh na comhráite a gcaithfear a bheith againn, agus ag eascairt as sin arís, céard iad na polasaithe agus na beartais a gcaithfimid a chur i gcrích. I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach for inviting me to speak to the Chamber and take this opportunity to contribute to the statements on international security.

An inspiration for talking about the geopolitical climate in which we find ourselves comes from unlikely sources on occasions such as this. I think it was Vladimir Lenin who said that there are decades where nothing happens and then there are weeks where decades happen. That in and of itself describes the changed geopolitical climate we see around the world today. We have rightly have much commentary on the conflict in Ukraine and that in the Middle East but I am also conscious that there are conflicts all across the continent of Africa at this time and in Yemen and Iran, which we need to address as well. The other aspect of international policy is a new and different type of multilateralism emerging across the world. The European Union is one facet of that but there is also then an increased role and an increased prominence being taken by the African Union on the continent of Africa. Across the southeast Asian bloc and in South America, countries are taking a multilateral approach. This has perhaps meant a different role for the UN than would have been traditionally the case in the fifties, sixties and seventies, as regional blocs start to take responsibility and take a view on what is happening in their neighbourhood and in their own backyards. When we look at the European situation and look níos giorra den bhaile, we see that these sort of debates around this change to the geopolitical climate are not just happening in Ireland. They are happening in Finland and Sweden where there has been a rapid change in decades-old policy that involves military neutrality and their foreign relations. The decision by the German Bundestag this week to alter its debt rules to enable for increased spending on defence is something we should take note of, given how much that means as an historic moment for the German people that they would make a decision like that.

I was in Brussels some weeks ago and one of the issues that emerged during the conversations I had, not only among our own diplomats who are based in Brussels but among officials in the European Commission and other member states on the eastern side of the European Union is a noticeable change in the sentiment and the mentality, especially in the newer member states of the EU such as Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and even Poland, about their relationships with their nearest neighbour and the impact that Russia may have on their independence in the future.

Much has been made in this House about how we make Europe safer. One thing we have to re-imagine here is that we have a new position now as a country compared to the fifties and sixties in that Ireland is now a strategic location. We are at the centre of the transatlantic economic relationship. We have a very clear role as a transatlantic trading and economic hub. We are a strategic location, not only geographically but economically given the prevalence of subsea cables in our immediate nautical territory. I spoke about energy in this House yesterday. As we embark upon further interconnection of our energy, we are going to increase our exposure to Russian mischief relating to those interconnections and the security of our energy supply as well.

We have spoken about neutrality. I do not believe Ireland should join NATO. I do not believe that is something we want to do or something that we should pursue as a policy. I do not think anyone in Government is seriously suggesting that this is a policy we want to pursue. However, we do need to have a debate about our neutrality. Is our neutrality worth protecting? If it is, we need to invest to ensure we have the capability and the capacity to protect it, as Finland and Sweden did when they were both neutral countries. They made significant investment in their capabilities to defend themselves. We also need to be cognisant of the fact that bad actors do not respect our neutrality. The cyberattack on the HSE a number of years ago was very much a clear symptom of that and a wake-up call for us as a country to ensure we invest in our defence and our cybersecurity policy. The final thing I will say about neutrality is that as an interest and as a policy proposal of Government, it needs to be aligned with our overall set of interests. Is anyone in this House seriously suggesting that our future economic and political interests are not aligned with those of the European Union? Is anyone seriously suggesting we are going to withdraw from our membership of the European Union? Is anyone seriously suggesting that the things we value as a country are out of sync with the things that are valued by the other 26 member states of the European Union? I do not think so. That is something we need to feed into this debate as well. We cannot treat it in isolation.

I would like to comment on some of the steps identified in the programme for Government and things we need to continue to do to ensure we build in that resilience for the international security challenges that lie ahead. The first relates to the structures we need to put in place. I welcome the announcement by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste this week of the establishment of the ministerial council on national security to give that strategic oversight to how we think of our national security and to ensure there is a constant thought process there as well. I also refer to the long overdue restructuring of the command structure of the Defence Forces as well, embedding in a cybersecurity command function into that.

Finally, on the investment piece, and we should rightly try to achieve a level of ambition with regard to the Defence Forces too but we also need to look in the short term at drone technology and aerial surveillance technology and how we protect the subsea cables around our territories and our cybersecurity infrastructure and how we built up our Naval Service to address just that. I will leave it there. I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach for indulging me.

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