Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I regret that the Government has not clarified this matter. As Members will be aware, my amendments explicitly excluded the humanitarian piece on Committee Stage but there are lots of other things such as monitoring, observation and recognisance. There are a number of different activities listed in section 3. Most of them are not direct military activities but it does matter and makes a difference for whom one does them.

I agree that we are in an evolving situation internationally. In fact, we are in a devolving situation internationally because clearly, over the last five to seven years, there has been a strong pull away from multilateralism, and from structures of the United Nations and others, and into a dynamic whereby we talk about larger states which have states that support them. That is why we need to be clear about the type of international organisations. If Ireland is a champion for multilateralism then we need to be clear about the type of multilateralism and who we work with. We do not want to be part of the coalitions of the willing, friends or groups of like-minded nations that act without clear clarity of actual multilateral structures. To be clear, those are not simply offshoots or extra things that happen. In many cases, those kinds of alliances or forces are set up to dilute the international multilateral structures that were hard won after centuries of war. We know that we need to have clarity, rules and international structures. We need international structures that move outside the realm of interests and operate instead on the basis of principle. That is why we need to be clear not just about what we do but who we do it with and on what grounds. It is a pity that we do not have clarity from the Government on what is meant by the reference to "any force".

I accept that the Minister of State will not accept my amendment at this time but that is regrettable. I hope that this question will be revisited and that there is clarity. I hope that the defence committee will monitor in terms of which forces, with whom we work and for which circumstances. I will revisit some of those monitoring matters and other measures that we can put into place in my later amendments. I have decided to withdraw the amendment because I will revisit some of the other others and I do not want to divide the House.