Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The provision of modern fit-for-purpose capabilities is important. There would be more trust from this side of the House if we were not having the parallel debate on the triple lock and what is coming down the tracks there. There are places we can land on in terms of the extraction of Irish citizens and ensuring that capability can be raised but the multilateral backup of the UN for peacekeeping missions is still vital. I am concerned that debate will impact on issues like this or investing in our cybersecurity. I do not want that to happen because these are things we have to do. These are the basics of national security. The fact the Tánaiste is trying to do these in parallel will be politically difficult and harbour mistrust on this side of the House that we are moving towards military alliances, be it NATO or through the European Union. That is something we cannot countenance and we do not need to.

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