Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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4. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if he will report on plans for the consultative forum on international security policy this summer; if his Department or the Defence Forces will be making submissions on the question of military non-alignment; which experts have been invited to participate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20857/23]

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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Will the Tánaiste report on plans for the consultative forum on international security policy this summer? Will his Department or the Defence Forces be making submissions on the question of military non-alignment?

Which experts have been invited to participate in the event? Will he make a statement on the matter?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The international security environment has changed significantly over the last year. In order to build a deeper understanding of the threats faced by the State and the links to and between our foreign, security and defence policy, I have convened a consultative forum on international security policy to discuss the issues involved. The consultative forum will take place in three different locations: on 22 June at University College Cork, on 23 June at the University of Galway and on 26 and 27 June at Dublin Castle. It will be chaired by Louise Richardson, formerly vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford and principal and vice-chancellor of the University of St. Andrews. The forum will be a broad discussion, examining issues such as Ireland's work to protect the rules-based international order through our engagement in peacekeeping, conflict prevention and peacebuilding and arms control and disarmament. It will examine new and emerging threats including cyber, hybrid, disinformation and threats to critical infrastructure. The forum will also examine our current and future engagement in EU Common Security and Defence Policy, CSDP, as well as our existing relationship with NATO through the Partnership for Peace. Attendance at the forum will consist of invited guests from Ireland and internationally with expertise and practical experience in the areas to be discussed. The full programme detailing moderators and panellists will be made available when finalised. I anticipate that those attending will include non-governmental organisations, academics and others, in addition to members of the general public for whom spaces will be reserved.

Discussions will be livestreamed and there will be an option for online submissions. There are no restrictions on who can and cannot make online submissions. The objective of the forum is to initiate an open and evidence-based discussion on the State’s foreign and security policy. Anyone interested in engaging in the process will be able to do so. The Department of Defence and the Department of Foreign Affairs have already contacted academic and policy institutions to encourage engagement and discussion on the issues the forum will focus on and will continue these contacts in the weeks ahead. Full details of the programme over the four days, as well as the arrangements for registration, livestreaming and the making of submissions, will be published by the Department of Defence and the Department of Foreign Affairs in the coming weeks. Importantly, there are no predetermined or preconceived outcomes from discussions at the forum and participants will be free to raise any relevant issues during deliberations. The chair’s report will outline what transpired over the four days but will not include recommendations. Once presented to me, I will consider its findings and decide whether to make recommendations to the Government.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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No predetermined outcomes - I believe the Tánaiste when thousands would not. I will start with a quote:

An examination of these cases reveals that the United States had very good reasons to object to the governments of Chile, Cuba and Nicaragua. Their ideological orientation was inimical to its own, so it supported local groups that used whatever means were available to them to try to bring them down.

These are the words of Louise Richardson, dame commander of the most excellent order of the British empire. They are words that might be used by an attorney to justify the actions of US imperialism in Central and Latin America, which, let us recall, included support for the killing of tens of thousands of people, at the very least. Why has this person been chosen to chair the Government's consultation forum on international security policy in June and to write the official report at the end of the forum's proceedings?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy has a very negative approach to the idea of even establishing a consultative forum. I find it disturbing in its own way that he would be so resolutely against an open and transparent debate in public forums regarding Ireland's foreign and security policy, as evidenced by his cynical comment about no "preconceived outcomes". I always suspected that the next approach would be to attack the chairperson. It is standard practice for the Deputy's movement and the movement he represents to try to assassinate someone at the knees - verbally, metaphorically speaking - in respect of their bona fides for chairing the committee. The chairperson is a distinguished academic in her own right and has achieved significant respect and credibility internationally for her achievements. That is the context for asking and inviting her to chair this and to compile a report. It will be a matter for me and the Government, subsequently, and indeed for the Oireachtas, if that is required, to then make decisions if decisions will be made in its aftermath. We need public debate and discussion around how Irish foreign and security policy has evolved over the last 20 years and the threats we will face over the next two decades.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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The Tánaiste spoke of a citizens' assembly. He has decided to go ahead with an assembly but I note, as I think many other people will do, that he has taken the citizens out of the equation. A meeting of the chiefs of the European navies will take place in Cork tomorrow and on Thursday. Who will be in attendance? Any European Union or European NATO country that has a navy can send representatives. US navy commanders have the right to attend as observers. I understand that NATO's military command will be represented, as will EU military staff. No doubt, the Tánaiste will highlight the question of underwater cables but is the event not also discussing drone technology, artificial intelligence systems and the further militarisation of the European Union? Why is there no advance publicity for this event? To the best of my knowledge, no location has been made public. Will the Tánaiste tell the House the location for this meeting? Does the Tánaiste or any other Government representative intend to attend?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I have been invited to a dinner tomorrow evening at said gathering. There is nothing wrong with military chiefs from European countries or indeed other countries coming to such a meeting. They do this annually. It just so happens it is happening in Ireland this year - unless I am mistaken, for the first time in 20-odd years. It rotates among states and people get together to discuss the latest developments technologically and so on. That is normal. We are part of the Common Security and Defence Policy, CSDP. If you look at our United Nations missions with our Polish and Hungarian counterparts - Pol Batt - you see that they have to have interoperability. The idea that you would not meet anybody is farcical in terms of interoperability on peacekeeping missions. I presume the Deputy wants Ireland to continue peacekeeping or peace enforcement missions. There are and will be threats to undersea cables, potentially. There are cybersecurity threats, which we had during Covid with the attack on health data. Cybersecurity cannot be dealt with in isolation. We need to collaborate and co-operate with others and learn from others who may have greater expertise in some areas; we may have expertise in others. That is how we all learn in life in different disciplines.