Results 21-40 of 1,057 for speaker:Tom Clonan
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Tom Clonan: It is very important so that Irish people understand our international service as peacekeeping, whether that be with the UN, the EU or Partnership for Peace. It is becoming clear to me that in the absence of a UN Security Council resolution the vast majority of future operations will be peace enforcement, which is quite a different thing-----
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Tom Clonan: -----and under international command. That is a very significant-----
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Tom Clonan: But if they are in location and part of a broader formation they are de facto under a higher command. They cannot operate in-----
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Tom Clonan: On that word "task", it is the function of command to task. That is the operational environment.
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Tom Clonan: Is it possible for me to make a brief comment before the non-members, even for two minutes?
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Tom Clonan: I will speak for less than that.
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Tom Clonan: Yes.
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Tom Clonan: I thank the Chair.
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Tom Clonan: I thank Senator Higgins for deferring to me earlier. Disagreement is the most powerful engine for arriving at the truth, so please do not construct disagreement as any kind of hostility or disrespect. I am saying this with absolute respect. First, to Dr. Berry’s assertion that peace enforcement and war fighting are different things, he said war fighting is about seizing cities,...
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Tom Clonan: Sorry. I know the advice is sound, but would Mr. Brennan be confident that the Government would follow it, given what has happened-----
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Tom Clonan: Notwithstanding what has happened-----
- Seanad: Nursing Homes and Care for Older Persons: Statements (26 Jun 2025)
Tom Clonan: Apologies as I was at committee with Senator Kyne and unable to attend. I am just going through the Minister of State’s statement. Regarding the abuse that “RTÉ Investigates” uncovered, not everybody will agree with me on this but I believe that was a predictable and foreseeable set of circumstances given the model of nursing care provision and the model for care...
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)
Tom Clonan: Cuirim fáilte roimh na finnéithe. I thank them for their presentations. Professor Tonra and I have spoken at conferences together. I am a great admirer of his work. We agree on most things but there are some areas we disagree on. He framed his statement in the opening paragraph by stating that the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has profoundly reshaped Europe’s...
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)
Tom Clonan: That is great. I share that view because for me it certainly is not. It has been asserted repeatedly that Russia could successively mount a ground invasion of a NATO state by 2029. Does Professor Tonra share that view?
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)
Tom Clonan: Does Professor Tonra think that the Russians could mount a successful ground invasion of a NATO state by 2029?
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)
Tom Clonan: Our friend and colleague Ed Burke wrote in The Irish Times last week that Russia can produce 1,500 main battle tanks every year. Does Professor Tonra share that view?
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)
Tom Clonan: For the record, the Russians certainly cannot. They can only produce a small fraction of that. Russia has a gross domestic product that is roughly similar to Spain’s. The European Union has a GDP 20 times that of Russia. Even without the US financial commitment to NATO in Europe, we dwarf Russia in terms of our military. I share Deputy Stanley’s view. I grew up in the...
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)
Tom Clonan: Does Professor Tonra not believe, bearing in mind the text Mark Rutte just sent to Trump, that the United States is the dominant partner or that it would easily relinquish its dominant control of NATO-----
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)
Tom Clonan: Professor Tora is asserting that but what evidence does he have?
- Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 : Discussion (Resumed) (26 Jun 2025)
Tom Clonan: What President Trump says and what the United States does are two different things as we all know.