Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the change of the Leader's seat to Limerick, the true capital of Ireland. Limerick abu.

I was going to speak on another topic but I must take up some of Senator Craughwell's points and, indeed, call for a debate on the issue. Let us be clear. I think Senator Craughwell said that nobody is talking about a European army. I remind him of the quote from the German Minister of Defence who said "I believe that joint armed forces would be a logical consequence of an increasingly close military co-operation in Europe." After PESCO was set up in November, she said that this was another step in the direction of the army of Europeans. Let us be very clear, and the dogs in the street know this, there are huge moves ahead towards a European army. As a neutral country, we should have something to say about this topic. One of the points about PESCO is that it commits our country to increased military spending. We have a bizarre situation at the moment whereby people in our Defence Forces, for which Senator Craughwell has been a great advocate, are being paid a pittance - and some are living in poverty - while we are splashing out millions on hardware. This is a huge contradiction. I want to take up the very good point about subversive forces. We have subversive forces operating in this country. They use Shannon Airport in particular. US military forces come in on their way to the conflict in Yemen. We know there is a famine in Yemen. We know from the flight records of Shannon that US military forces are actively helping the Saudi coalition. We can see to where the flights go. They land in the capitals of the Saudi-led coalition that is causing widespread chaos, death, destruction and famine in Saudi Arabia so the idea that somehow this is not happening is frankly nonsense. I am really surprised that Senator Craughwell would say such a thing. He needs to come down and a visit us at one of our protests in Shannon. We would be happy to share with him the information that is there on a regular basis. I want a debate on this topic urgently. I am proud of our neutrality. There was a time when Fianna Fáil had good things to say about our neutrality. The silence from that quarter is regrettable. Hopefully, something positive will be said today. We need a debate on this issue. Again, I remind Senator Byrne, who is deputising for the Leader, that I have asked for a debate on the disgraceful use of Shannon Airport on several occasions. It is a blight on our country. It is absolutely disgusting that US troops have filed through in their millions for wars of terror. Let us be frank about it; anyone who looks at what is happening in Syria, Libya and Yemen can see what is happening in the world. It is an absolute disgrace so let us have a debate for which I call as a matter of urgency.