Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)

I thank the Tánaiste. On the dysfunctionality he has described in the UN, this is exactly the time for us to recommit to our engagement with the UN, to help resolve the difficulties we are experiencing at Security Council level. As we have been at pains to point out throughout this debate, and will continue to highlight, the triple lock can be satisfied by the UN General Assembly. I had answers from the officials of the Department of Defence to that effect, which confirmed that the General Assembly can satisfy it. The same thing was put out in the literature on the Lisbon and Nice treaties. Some of the Government spokespeople will talk about the difficulty that might present but again, it is exactly the time to commit to that and make sure we work within the UN structures rather than stepping away from them at this crucial time of volatility on our globe.

I thank the Tánaiste for his engagement on the issue of human rights monitoring. We will be bringing forward suggestions on how we can satisfy that.

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