Results 221-240 of 20,370 for speaker:Brian Stanley
- Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Middle East (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: 185. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will define the timeline for the enactment of the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018. [26771/25]
- Flood Relief: Statements (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: There are three flood relief schemes in Laois, in Clonaslee, Mountmellick and Portarlington. I welcome that they are progressing and I hope the Minister of State puts some fire under them, but the facts are that the schemes and the processes are too slow. I welcome that money was approved recently for the Clonaslee scheme. The council has approval to go to planning there with the OPW for...
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: I thank the witnesses and officials for coming in. In her opening statement, Ms Maguire said the programme for Government sets out a commitment to reform the operation of the triple lock while ensuring that the amendments to the legislation are in keeping with Ireland's values and policy of military neutrality. Let us imagine a scenario where a peacekeeping resolution comes before the...
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: There are 11 peacekeeping missions around the world at the moment.
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: Ireland participates in some of those.
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: The picture Ms Maguire is painting is that there are almost no peacekeeping missions around the world at the moment.
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: Ms Maguire is missing the point I am making. The point that I am making is that Ireland is then taking sides in a conflict without UN sanction. Is that not correct?
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: So we put our faith in that. Is that what Ms Maguire is saying? That it is okay. I am not trying to be combative. I am trying to explore where this could go.
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: There is an inherent risk there by virtue of the fact that we are participating in a conflict zone without a UN mandate, which means that we are going to sidestep the international norm that has operated heretofore.
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: It would be very hard to ignore it though, would it not?
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: The big shift with this Bill is that we are moving away from the seven-year norm where we accepted the global order as ordained by the UN. We are now going to participate in regional forces.
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: I support the view put forward on building up the Defence Forces. Unfortunately, they are in a poor shape and we must build up their capability if we are going to be a neutral country. I wish to go back again to the mandate of the UN General Assembly. Ms Maguire indicated in reply to some questions that it would satisfy the rules on deployment. Could she clarify that? She seemed to...
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: That is okay, but it is there.
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: Or if we decided to push it and use it - if Ireland proposes that we use it, which we have not done.
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: That is a judgment. What about the other question on the referendum?
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: Could I have just 20 seconds for a response?
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: The adoption of the Constitution in the 1930s was a political decision.
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: There are 11.
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: Up until now we have been seen as impartial. For example, as Ms Maguire correctly said in respect of our peacekeeping troops in the Lebanon, we are not seen to be taking sides in a conflict. The fundamental change here is that when we disregard the requirement for a UN mandate, regardless of one's position on the veto of the Security Council, we are then taking sides. We are no longer...
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)
Brian Stanley: I want to come to that. The Nice treaty, roughly speaking as I recall it, was rejected by two thirds of voters and passed by one third of voters. It failed the first time. There was a lot of back and forth. In fairness to the Government at the time, it put the triple lock in place and that was the guarantee. That is when it went the other way and the two thirds against and one third for...