Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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9. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if Ireland will block progress towards the establishment of a common European fund for military research and co-operation to prevent the further militarisation of the EU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15486/17]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The College of Commissioners adopted the European Defence Action Plan on 30 November last. This

Commission proposal has yet to go through the wide ranging and extensive EU procedures before any part of it becomes a reality.

The aim of the Plan is to explore how EU policies and instruments can ensure that the EU’s industrial and skills base will be able to deliver required defence capabilities in view of current and future security challenges. As part of this Plan, the Commission has proposed the creation of a European Defence Fund.

The purpose of the Defence Fund is to promote research and innovation and contribute to the strengthening of the European defence technology and industrial base, and to further stimulate the development of key defence capabilities. The Commission has proposed that the fund would have research and capability windows.

In the research window, it is proposed that €90 million in funding will be made available for collaborative defence research projects over the period 2017-20 in what is known as the "preparatory action". The Commission also proposed that, post 2020, a European Defence Research Programme will be established which will require funding of €500 million per annum. It should be noted that this has yet to be negotiated as part of the post 2020 multiannual financial framework, the negotiation of which has not yet commenced.

Under the capability window, the establishment of a fund is proposed. The fund would facilitate Member States in purchasing capability platforms together through the pooling of national contributions, where possible supported by the EU budget. The Commission estimates that this fund would be in the region of €5 billion per year. It is important to highlight that this would depend on individual Member States agreeing to initiate joint projects which they would co-fund from national resources. To date, no such ambition on pooling resources across the union has been realised.

For certain Member States in the EU, defence is a significant contributor to their economies, representing an EU industry of €100 billion with 1.5 million direct and indirect employees. Ireland does not have an issue with funding of defence research. As I have stated previously to the House, for Ireland to have a well-equipped and capability driven Defence Forces we must support the funding of defence research. Ireland may not have a defence industry but this does not stop Ireland tapping into funding through our well established companies in the dual-use product and technology sectors. However we will have to look at how these proposals evolve in the context of the next multi-annual financial framework and where Ireland’s best interests lie in that regard, particularly in relation to research funding in general.

I am also satisfied that the proposals in the Action Plan fully acknowledge and reaffirm that Defence remains a Member State prerogative. Decisions about expenditure, military capabilities, Research and Technology are and remain matters for individual Member States in the first instance.