Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

I thank all Senators for their contributions to the debate. We have all, in some ways, quoted from the Schuman Declaration. It is important to remember, and Senator Higgins is right, that the original proposal for the European Union was to physically merge the coal and steel industries of Europe so it would not just be theoretically impossible to have a war on the European Continent between those countries, but it would be practically impossible as they would not be able to make weapons to fight against each other. That has worked remarkably successfully in the Continent of Europe and among the member states of the European Union. There has been no war among those member states when war had been commonplace over many centuries.The European Union has, therefore, been the greatest example of a peace project in the history of the world. That must be preserved, but it must be protected and secured as well. We are very fortunate to live in peace and fortunate for the founding vision of our forefathers and foremothers that led us to the European Union.

Unfortunately for the European Union and its member states, there is a country that has not really been mentioned by those talking about militarisation, namely, Russia. Russia has built up an incredible armed force against Ukraine, directly attacked Ukraine but also been a menace to many countries in the European Union and the surrounding areas. North Korea has sent soldiers to the front lines against Ukraine. Last week I visited a site in a residential area of Kyiv where 51 buildings were basically destroyed by a North Korean missile. That is the reality countries are facing and the reality of the choices they are being forced to make not because they want to increase militarisation and think defence spending should be the number one priority but because it is an existential priority of these countries to protect themselves. We must protect the peace of Europe. We must defend it. We must invest in our neutrality.

I hear people criticising military spending. We are spending on better terms and conditions for members of our armed forces and on having more members of those forces. We are spending it on primary radar, which we do not have. We are spending it on, for example, Gormanston Camp to develop the facilities to train in a proper way members of the armed forces. That is what defence spending means in Ireland. There is a fundamental misconception among the Opposition about defence and militarisation. Defence policy is a matter for each member state. Each member state takes its own decisions on defence and the decisions we have taken on defence go back to the Commission on the Defence Forces, which was an initiative of the previous Government, before the invasion of Ukraine. It was a programme for Government commitment in 2020 because we recognised the need to invest in our armed forces. That is happening and we are doing that because of our own decisions.

I strongly urge Members of the House and members of the defence, European or foreign affairs committees to visit Irish troops abroad. I went two weeks ago to see Operation Irini where Irish troops work with troops from other EU member states under Italian command and a UN mandate to detect and stop weapons coming in illegally from north Africa, especially Libya. The force also does a lot of work on people movement and human trafficking. I have not looked at the votes but this would have gone through the Dáil, certainly, and Members can look at who voted for and against this. I was very proud of the members of our Defence Forces serving abroad with Irini, the skills they are bringing and the skills they are bringing back. We have engaged in EU battle groups since 2008, which is almost 20 years. They have proved to be highly successful for our armed forces in terms of the work they do.

We also have operated under a UN mandate in lots of place around the world, but UN mandates have to be renewed. It is time to remove the triple lock, because at the moment what it means in the case of UNIFIL or Operation Althea in Bosnia is that when these mandates require renewal we must ask Russia, China and other members of the Security Council to please let us send our troops to do the work they have been so proud to do over many decades. It needs to be decision of the Government and of the Dáil that we decide where our peacekeepers go to help with peace and do the work they have been so excellent at doing. The time has come to end this practice whereby, because of the way the UN Security Council in particular is working, we have to ask permission from Russia and China to send out troops to do peacekeeping. Unfortunately, that is the reality we face and I have been there at the table-----