Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

My colleague, Senator Moynihan, mentioned the tent village that is about to be created, or has been erected, in Gormanstown. It is horrific to think that families who come here must live in tents. As I said the other day, tents are fine in the summer if the weather is good but if one gets a bad summer then tents are terrible places to be. I agree that the tents are a short-term solution and I hope that this is a very short-term solution. However, such a situation brings into sharp focus the lack of investment in the Defence Forces over the past 30 years. Do we have more tents if we need them? Will we be able to erect them? Have we got sites for them if we need them? How quickly can we get tents if we need them?

The humanitarian side is all fine and dandy but unless the Ukrainians can knock tanks out then they will continue to suffer attacks in their home country. We have AT4s and Gustaf 84 equipment in the Curragh. Again, I ask the Deputy Leader to raise with her party the idea of sending these weapons. The story that weapons do not travel is a nonsense. The issue of neutrality is constantly being bandied around these days. The moment we supplied anything to either belligerent in this conflict we gave up any neutrality that we had. So let us send the weapons and give people the power to protect themselves. That is not a whole lot to ask.

Finally, again, I would like to have the Minister, Deputy Coveney, in here to discuss the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. It is a simple win right now to allow PDFORRA and the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers, RACO, if it wishes to go there, to affiliate with the union. That should be allowed straight away.