James Heffernan (Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Returning to what Senator Leyden stated, it was a dangerous development to have UK bombers going to Syria last night. It is a frightening development. In the words of Edwin Starr's famous single, "War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing." I would very much agree. This is an issue that I have raised here and that we should be concerned about in this country. It is one that came up, interestingly enough, this morning by way of a Commencement motion proposed by a member of Fine Gael, in response to which the Minister of State at the Department of Defence, Deputy Kehoe, outlined a position, although, to be quite honest, I was not too sure what it was. Our neutrality is being called into question again. I for one do not want to see Irish troops or the Irish armed forces involved in any aggressive military campaign headed up by the United Kingdom, the United States, NATO or any of these alliances. Our traditional neutrality, which people voted to protect when they voted against the Treaties of Lisbon and Nice when they thought there was a threat to it, should be protected and given a sovereign status. Following on from that, it is high time - I called for it last week or the week before - we had a debate about Ireland's neutrality, particularly the use of Shannon Airport by the US military, the Russian military and any other military. It should not happen, and there should be a phased reduction and eventual withdrawal of that service to give aid to foreign militaries. Given the recent developments, especially from the United Kingdom, that involve the bombing of Syria, which will continue to exacerbate the refugee crisis and our problems with the direct provision services, I would hope that we have no hand, act or part in such military intervention tactics. That debate on neutrality should happen soon.