Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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229. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the specific measures the Government is taking to ensure that Ireland's participation in the European Union's permanent structured cooperation framework and any EU defence arrangements do not compromise Ireland's commitment to multilateralism, the UN charter, and its sovereign right to not participate in collective defence given Ireland's long-standing policy of military neutrality; if he will detail the direct financial and logistical costs incurred by the Irish State to date for PESCO participation. [57271/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Within the EU, it is accepted that defence and security is a national competence and that any decisions as regards EU defence arrangements, including any deepening of EU cooperation, require unanimity. It is the prerogative of Member States to make arrangements which serve their own national defence needs, which in lreland's case, is our traditional policy of military neutrality, as characterised by our non-participation in any military alliance.

Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) provides a treaty based framework designed to improve the means by which Member States can participate jointly in projects to develop defensive capabilities, both to enhance contributions to crisis management and peacekeeping operations undertaken by the EU under the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) as well as to develop other more general defence capabilities addressing Member States critical capability gaps in priority areas. Participation in any PESCO project is entirely voluntary and it is a matter for each Member State to decide for itself whether or not to participate on a case-by-case basis.

As of October 2025, Ireland is participating in six PESCO projects and has Observer status on Seventeen. The six projects in which we are participating are - (1) Upgrade of Maritime Surveillance; (2) Cyber Threats and Incident Response Information Sharing Platform; (3) Maritime (semi) Autonomous Systems for Mine Countermeasures and (4) Deployable Military Disaster Relief Capability Package (5) Network of Logistic Hubs in Europe and Support to Operations (6) Critical Seabed Infrastructure Protection (CSIP). Ireland is currently observing seventeen PESCO projects.

Ireland engages in PESCO Projects that align with the Defence Forces' capability development requirements, and hence each project undergoes an analysis for how it can deliver for the Defence Forces' capabilities prior to a decision to join.

No additional costs were incurred through PESCO related activities other than costs associated with attendance by Defence Forces Subject Matter Experts at PESCO project planning meetings. This may change as projects progress and capabilities are developed and acquired through the PESCO framework.

However, it is expected that sharing the costs of capability development across a number of Member States should prove cost neutral in terms of overall projected defence expenditure.

PESCO does not modify or change Ireland’s existing security and defence arrangements. The Notification on Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), signed by Member States in advance of the official establishment of PESCO by Council Decision in 2017 states that "the establishment and implementation of Permanent Structured Cooperation will be undertaken in full compliance with the provisions of the TEU and the protocols attached thereto and respecting constitutional provisions of the member States".