Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House for this important debate. I am proud that Fine Gael has led this debate, which is long overdue.

When I was young, I believed in Ireland's neutrality. I believed that my father, my brother, my boyfriend and subsequently my sons should not go to war because I did not want to lose them. I was selfish about it, as were many other women. We are protective of our sons, husbands and brothers. However, I saw what happened in the Balkans when mothers and fathers lost their sons and daughters in acts of genocide. We sat on our comfortable seats and said it was terrible. We wanted to know why someone would not try to sort it out. I watched as we allowed American aeroplanes loaded with troops and arms to land at Shannon on their way to an illegal war in Iraq, which was started because that country apparently had weapons of mass destruction. We know now and knew then that it did not have weapons of mass destruction. They were never found, yet the Government allowed the war to happen.

Where is our neutrality? What is it? It is not what I thought it was. I have grown up. I am not prepared to stand by and watch others suffer any longer. I do not want to watch my neighbours suffer while I sit in my comfortable chair and hope somebody will do something about it. That is totally selfish.

Ireland has grown up. It can stand up with the best of them in Europe but we cannot stand side by side with our neighbours when they are in trouble. There is a move in Europe to do something about this and we must be part of it. We cannot step aside and give all sorts of reasons for being neutral. We have heard several Members on the other side of the House, not just today, saying we are not neutral. It is a black and white issue. A country is either neutral or it is not.