Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 7: To ask the Minister for Defence the nature of the official visit by the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces (details supplied) to Washington in May 2005; the person with whom this person had talks; the nature of those discussions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25793/05]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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Lt. Gen. Sreenan visited the United States from 28 March 2005 to 1 April 2005 on foot of an invitation from General Richard B. Meyers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This visit was a Chiefs of Defence Staff visit, which is a traditional means of CHODs paying courtesy visits to their foreign counterparts and discussing matters of mutual interest.

Lt. Gen. Sreenan held bilateral discussions with General Meyers and his staff on matters of common interest, namely operational aspects of UN mandated peace support operations in Kosovo, KFOR; Bosnia, EUFOR; Afghanistan, ISAF; and sub-Saharan Africa.

Lt. Gen. Sreenan also held bilateral discussions with commandants of schools where Irish officers attend training courses. Lt. Gen. Sreenan also used the visit to observe demonstrations and be briefed on the latest developments in regard to equipment for the protection of the individual soldier on peace support missions.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Is it not the case that when General Meyers visited here the Minister went off sick but visited a barracks? The indication was that he had been instructed because of a possible embarrassment and unfavourable optics to go missing.

Does he agree that the meetings outlined in his response reveal that we are hand in glove with the United States in military matters? This is confirmed almost every day in Shannon where we are complicit in this bloody war in Iraq which gets worse day by day. Our so-called neutrality is going out the window. The Minister, and this Government in particular, have contributed more than any other Government to dismantling the last vestiges of our neutrality.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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I am glad Deputy Gormley got the opportunity to make his usual speech. I did not take off sick when General Meyers visited.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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That is how it was reported.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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That is an unworthy aspersion. I know the Deputy, who is a decent man and a native of Limerick, will feel obliged to withdraw it.

Joe Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Deputy Gormley is a lucky man to come from Limerick.

Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Is Deputy Gormley from Limerick? That explains a great deal.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy implied that I feigned illness. I do not feign illness. I was visiting a barracks in Athlone. I did not feel very well. The visit went on longer than I had anticipated and there was not sufficient time to travel to Dublin to keep the appointment with General Meyers which I regretted and for which I apologised. That is the truth and I hope the Deputy accepts that. There was no question of me being instructed to go missing. I do not go missing and I certainly do not take instructions to go missing from anybody, no matter who he or she is.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Does the Minister not even take such instructions from the Taoiseach?

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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No. I take no instructions of that nature from anybody. I am who I am. I was genuinely ill on that day and genuinely sorry I could not meet General Meyers. There was no insult intended to General Meyers. I made that clear to his staff and to the American Embassy.

I compliment Deputy Gormley on his wonderfully imaginative description of us getting rid of neutrality and being "hand in glove with the United States" and "complicit in the bloody war in Iraq". There is no complicity in the war in Iraq. This is an arrangement in Shannon that has continued for the past 50 or 60 years under the jurisdiction of various Governments.

If the Green Party becomes part of the next Government Deputy Gormley will insist that this arrangement comes to an end and we will lose 1,500 jobs immediately in the Shannon area. The troops will be able to go to another airport in a so-called neutral country to avail of the facilities there. Some countries whose governments won elections on the basis of opposing the Americans fell over one another to offer the facility to the United States if we were to withdraw it.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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That is not true.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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That is a fact.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I would like to correct the record.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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One government in which, as I understand it, the Deputy's party is sharing power was quite ready to provide this facility.

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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We are running out of time. I call Deputy Timmins.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I wish to correct the record.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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I hope the Deputy will correct the record.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I will.

Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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There is a great deal of correcting the record to be done here today. I note the Minister said he contacted the American Embassy to express his regret at not being able to meet General Meyers. Is it correct that he contacted the embassy not that the embassy contacted the Department of Defence?

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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No. We contacted the embassy.

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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I will allow Deputy Gormley speak very briefly to ask a question.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The neutral states to which the Minister refers do not afford landing facilities to the——

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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That is a statement not a question. We will move on to Question No. 8 in the name of Deputy Jim O'Keeffe.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Will the Minister confirm that all the other neutral states do not allow American troops to land on their soil to participate in the war in Iraq? Are we not being complicit by allowing them to do so? That is the case.

Will the Minister also correct the record to say that this arrangement has not been in place for 50 years? A case was brought to the High Court and the judge found this arrangement was not in place. I want the Minister to correct the record on that point.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy did not say the High Court also concluded that this in no way infringed our military neutrality.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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That is because it is not in the Constitution.

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputy Gormley should allow the Minister to continue without interruption.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The Minister should correct the record.

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy should resume his seat. The Minister was called to answer a question and he is entitled to do so. We will move on to Question No. 8.