Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have spoken about the particulars of permanent structured co-operation, PESCO, on two occasions in the House, but in keeping with the commitment to Irish military neutrality, UN primacy, demilitarisation and nuclear disarmament, Sinn Féin believes the Government has to show leadership and work with others to actively oppose the evolution of an EU common defence. I believe the European Union has no legitimacy in military and defence matters and it should be left to member states, and that international peacekeeping and conflict resolution should happen under the auspices of the United Nations. Successive EU treaties since the Single European Act in 1987, including the Nice treaty, have eroded independent foreign policy to the point where military neutrality, although seriously undermined, is virtually all we have left. The EU has become increasingly militarised since the first reference to EU military co-operation and common defence appeared in the Maastricht treaty. It is clear the EU treaties taken together aim to reconstruct the EU as a military superpower. I ask Senator Craughwell to take note.

The need for intervention to halt the momentum of EU militarisation has never been more urgent, yet the Government, on behalf of this supposedly neutral State, has done very little, if anything, to oppose these developments. It has done even less to protect Irish neutrality and improve Ireland's negotiating position for a future in an EU that is even more heavily dominated by NATO states. At the very least, the Government should demand a legally binding neutral protocol for Ireland. It should also show leadership and co-ordinate with other EU neutral states in an effort to persuade other member states in our European Union to drop or reduce the EU military dimension. Ireland should promote the redirection of EU defence and peacekeeping resources towards the United Nations. This is the perspective Sinn Féin brings to the heart of the European Union and I second the proposal by Senator Gavan. Senator Higgins will make a similar proposal.