Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)

In June, Ursula von der Leyen agreed a new security and defence partnership between the EU and Canada, which is a member of NATO. This will enable Canada to engage in joint weapons procurement with European countries, including Ireland, those who have signed up to ReArm Europe and the so-called safe instrument. Von der Leyen and Canada announced that NATO remains the cornerstone of their defence and that, "Our aim will be to help deliver on our capability targets, including through our defence industries, more quickly and economically and with enhanced interoperability in ways that deliver mutual benefit and reinforce the European contribution to NATO." Would the Taoiseach agree that this new partnership between Ireland and Canada is part of what our President, Michael D. Higgins, described as a dangerous drift towards NATO that puts us behind the shadows of previous empires within the EU and that this flies in the face of the views of the vast majority of people in this country who want to retain neutrality and who follow James Connolly's line of neither king nor Kaiser? Today, that is neither Washington nor Brussels nor Bejing nor Moscow.

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