John Minihan (Progressive Democrats)

Today, the first ever peacekeeping operation led by the European Union commences in Macedonia. Unfortunately, Ireland is not taking part, even though I think 99% of the Irish people would say that we should. The reason we are not involved is the triple-lock mechanism whereby one country, the People's Republic of China, has vetoed a UN mandate, yet we have unanimous EU support for the mission. This poses serious foreign policy questions for us vis-à-vis our EU colleagues. We have become tied up in legal and political loopholes from which we need to extract ourselves. I would urge the Leader to arrange a debate on this serious issue.

I support the request by previous speakers for a rolling debate on Iraq if for no other reason than to strike a balance in the comments that are being made in the House. Finally, I wish to state that there are no cracks on this side of the House.