The thread that has run through this debate and others in both Houses subsequent to the 1991 Gulf War, is the de Valera policy, and that of Sean Lester, the last Secretary General of the League of Nations, which is that collective security is the best guarantor of international security for small nations like Ireland. When that fails, chaos and anarchy reign, as was the case following the failure of the League of Nations in the 1930s and the Second World War. The United Nations arose out of that situation and a stronger and more vibrant United Nations was built on the mistakes made by the League of Nations.