Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

But nonetheless, we need to be very clear on where and how we engage. Of course the UN has to engage with NATO, because NATO involves many of the military actors in the world. If Ireland is going to be a champion of peace-building and peacekeeping involving NATO, which is ultimately an alliance of interests and like-minded countries in a particular military pact, we must be clear on the lines where things come in. As the Minister said, NATO may have engaged in activity with the United Nations, but that does not mean that we should do things with NATO. In that sense, where I refer to any regional arrangement or agency, it is reasonable that we would engage with any regional arrangement or agency that is participating in operations for a United Nations force and we also have the European Union there and the OSCE. The reference to "has participated" is a little loose.