The Government likes to tell us it does not have our neutrality in its crosshairs. It tells us it is planning to drop the triple lock so that a future government or this Government could send troops outside of the framework of international law on NATO missions to invade countries in the Middle East or elsewhere. However, we should not worry; neutrality is not under threat. It tells us it wants to triple our military expenditure but we should not worry, neutrality is not under threat. It participates in the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, described as a NATO alliance by the US Secretary of Defence. We have now attended 30 of these meetings, which take place either online or in NATO headquarters, either in Brussels or the air command in Germany. It engages in training Ukrainian troops involved in a war against an imperialist invader-----

Sentiment score: 0.19

It does not. The Minister of State is misleading the Dáil. For the record, the Minister of State said this group removes landmines. It does not.

Sentiment score: -0.10

It does not just train people to remove landmines. That was the propaganda put out at the time but if the Minister of State read into the detail, he would know that is not what it stated. He will be able to go and check it later. The Government attempted - it appears the armoured vehicles were too rusty and perhaps would have presented a threat to the poor Ukrainian conscripts - to offload armoured vehicles which were armed with grenade launchers or machine guns. It still tried to pass that off as being non-lethal military aid. However, we should not worry; neutrality is not under threat. As part of the national maritime security strategy, the Government participates in the Joint Expeditionary Force - an alliance made-up of ten NATO members and led by Britain. However, we should not worry; neutrality is not under threat. If anybody believed this guff, they should go and pay some attention to what the Government is openly saying are its priorities for the European Presidency. Ireland is President of the European Council for the next six months and it has three priorities; values, competitiveness, and security. We are supposedly neutral State, saying that one of our three priorities is security. What does that mean in detail? I quote: "The Irish Presidency will advance work on the measures set out in the White Paper on the future of European defence and the associated defence-readiness roadmap 2030 and on defence procurement." The Government is saying openly it is going to advance the White Paper on the future of European defence and the defence-readiness roadmap. What does the White Paper for European defence say? Section 8, enhanced security through partnerships, states: NATO remains the cornerstone of collective defence of its members in Europe. EU-NATO co-operation is an indispensable pillar for the development of the EU security and defence dimension. The EUs unique tools of regulatory power and financial instruments help the 23 EU Member States in NATO to achieve their capability targets. Explicitly, a Government that says it is never going to go near NATO or anything like that is now saying a priority is to uphold this indispensable pillar of EU-NATO co-operation. Section 7 looks for a surge in defence spending. That is what is promised and what is in reality already under way via: a new dedicated financial instrument to support member states' defence investments. The Irish State has said it is going to sign up to this Security Action For Europe, SAFE, project and borrow money in order to invest money in the military; the co-ordinated activation of the national escape clause of the Stability and Growth Pact. The fiscal rules are not going to apply to military expenditure. We are falling deeper and deeper into a housing crisis that is not only in Ireland but across Europe. We have never suspended fiscal rules for the housing crisis but they are getting suspended for militarisation; making existing EU instruments more flexible to allow greater defence investment; contributions for the European Investment Bank; mobilising private capital; and financial predictability. If we read the associated defence-readiness roadmap 2030, it is the same stuff. Europe has turned the corner on decades of underinvestment in defence. Member States increased defence budgets from €218 billion in 2021, to €343 billion in 2024. This is all explicitly, positively referenced in the programme of the Irish Presidency. A neutral State is saying this is great and is driving the further militarisation of Europe. It is driving greater spending on weapons in Europe and it thinks that is a good thing. Mark Rutte, the NATO chief, said spending more on defence means spending less on other priorities. That is the mantra of political establishments across Europe. You will not get investment in housing or transport and you can forget about action on climate because they will spend more on weapons that do not make ordinary people any safer but make armaments companies a lot richer.

Sentiment score: 0.25