Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

I will get the Deputy an exact answer on that. As I understand it, we are not part of that. The decision was taken by the Council, of which we are part, and our position is generally to facilitate what other member states want to do. As the Taoiseach has said, we are very clear that defence is a national competency. There is no EU army. If Deputy McDonald said what she said today in a presidential debate, people simply would not take her seriously. It was over the top and outrageous. She spoke about the sons and daughters of Irish parents being sent to European wars. I have never heard that before in the Dáil, although we heard it in some of the referendum campaigns. In fact, we were promised it in 2008 and 2002. Nothing could be further from the truth. I will get the exact position on that but my understanding is that our position has been to facilitate what member states want to do.

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