Seanad debates

Thursday, 7 December 2017

10:30 am

Photo of Gerard CraughwellGerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I compliment the Taoiseach and thank him for being a man of his word. Yesterday we saw a joint exercise between the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána. That is to be welcomed. It is something I have been calling for for a long time. The exercise went very well and we owe compliments to the Chief of Staff and the members of the Defence Forces who showed themselves to be ready, willing and able despite the ongoing industrial relations issues within the Defence Forces. I also compliment An Garda Síochána. I hope lessons were learned and that we can see more of these exercises in the future.

I would like the Acting Leader to bring an issue back to the Taoiseach. The issue of permanent structured co-operation on security and defence, PESCO, was debated in the Dáil this week. To a certain degree the lunatics take over the asylum when anything to do with security, PESCO, European security or such matters is mentioned.There is no question of a European army being formed anywhere. No country is seeking a European army. What we are looking for is the sharing of resources and intelligence across Europe, which can only be a good thing. It is important that Ireland is a part of that. Last night, I read on social media, following a debate which took place in the Dáil, that Ireland is signing up to a European army and is throwing away its neutrality. Ireland is a militarily non-aligned state and will stay that way. The citizens of this State will decide if we are to change that - nobody else. I would ask that the Government actually starts to put out solid information so that people can actually debate the issues in a more rational and reasonable way.

We had calls in this House to stop the development of a European army. There is no European army. Nobody wants such an army. However, do we honestly want to find ourselves in a situation where we cannot share intelligence about various subversive organisations that are operating in this country and in the wider European context? I do not believe we want to be outside that. I ask, first and foremost, that the Government provide solid information and, second, that we invite the Minister or even the Taoiseach to come to the House to debate this issue. I understand that the Government has enough on its plate at the moment. I hope, please God, that we can get somebody in here in the new year in order that we might have a rational debate on what we are talking about with PESCO rather than it being a case of people jumping into the deep end straight away.

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