The document also contains an exhortation that Ireland should not only be a member of the emerging EU security and defence architecture but that it should also be one of the architects helping to design the new arrangements. My response to this observation is to state that we have been a part of the design team. Ireland's contribution to the architecture of European security and defence policy has been significant, as our EU partners can testify. The policy is not a new idea, as it appeared in its first inception in the late 1990s. Ireland has sought to play an active role in shaping and developing the policy. Ireland has had some success in its efforts to promote a balanced development between the civilian and military dimensions of the policy. It has also sought to prioritise the Union's approach to conflict prevention, an area to which the Government will continue to attach particular importance in the lead-up to and during its EU Presidency in the first six months of 2004.