Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for reading the manifesto. We made it clear, and I recall making it clear, during the general election, but I appreciate the Deputy reading the manifesto. I closely read the Sinn Féin manifesto.

I have quite a few things to say. To Deputy Clendennen's point, we should acknowledge the men and women serving at Camp Shamrock. We all do so, and that is an important point. It has been a difficult period for them because of the region in which they have been serving. They have been dealing with the horrific murder of Private Seán Rooney. We continue to fight for justice and work with his mum, Natasha, in that regard. There has also been all the debate about whether there will be a renewal of the mandate and all the uncertainty of that. Throughout all of that, they have served with distinction. I know that point unites us.

The idea of Ireland becoming a major military power or engaging in military adventurism is at such a remove from the reality. We are spending so little on defence relative to other countries. We are trying to get to a level whereby we can protect our undersea cables and have a better idea of what goes on in our skies. Even when we get to LOA 2 or LOA 3, we are not spending like a military power or any country that wishes to be a military power. That is not what we wish to be at all. We wish to be a country that can keep itself and its people safe, has a better idea of what goes on in our sea and skies and plays a role in peacekeeping. That is what we want to do.

I always find it hard to agree with Deputy Murphy, but I agree that this Government will be gone at some point and there will be a new government. I take the point about how political commitments translate into primary legislation. It is a fair point. I ask the Deputy to bring forward proposals, as I am sure he will. Let us tease it through. We are going to change the triple lock. That is our proposal as a Government. We are going to bring forward proposals to this House. We have published a general scheme. It has been scrutinised by the Oireachtas committee. Some good ideas have come back from that cross-party committee, on which I am reflecting. There is an openness from me and the Government to further strengthen commitments around the UN Charter. I ask the Deputy to bring forward proposals in that regard. If the Opposition's approach is to say, "No, nay, never, we will not talk to you about it and will just vote you down", that is grand, but it is not the most constructive way to try to engage in the legislation that we have a duty to try to get right.

What is going on in Gaza is a genocide. We agree on that point. We were one of the first countries, certainly in Europe, to call it a genocide. The UN independent inquiry now agrees. I often hear from people who support the triple lock that they want Ireland to be able to assist more in Gaza. I have even heard people ask if our military or Air Corps could become involved. None of that can happen under the triple lock. We must try to look at the situation. Do Deputies believe there will be, whether through unanimity or not, a veto in respect of Gaza and the two-state solution at the UN Security Council? I do not believe that.

What about Ukraine and peacekeeping? There are real issues here that are going to come to the fore in the time ahead. We must have legislation whereby Ireland remains militarily neutral and unaligned, but which also provides some degree of flexibility in the countries and parts of the world to which we deploy peacekeepers to reflect and advance our values.

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