Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on the subject of neutrality and, more generally, Ireland's involvement in security and defence policy issues. The Government welcomes a transparent and open debate in this area, not least in view of issues brought to the fore by the Convention on the Future of Europe. I welcome the contribution to the debate on neutrality made by the Fine Gael policy document as it is time we had an open and transparent debate on the subject. The debate should be well-bedded and removed from hysteria. Fine Gael's recent policy document, Beyond Neutrality, represents a thoughtful contribution to the discussion on Ireland's involvement in the development of EU security and defence policy. It contains some clear points of difference from the Government approach to this area, on which I will elaborate later, but is very welcome nonetheless.