Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Micheál Martin has confirmed that a Report addressing issues including the future of Ireland’s military neutrality is expected from the Chair of the Consultative Forum on International Security Policy, Louise Richardson DBE, ‘in the coming weeks.’
The Tánaiste made his remarks in response to a series of parliamentary questions on the matter from various TD’s.
He further noted that upon receiving the Report, he will then bring it to Government and that it will form an ‘important contribution’ to the national conversation.
The Tánaiste stressed that security situation in Europe had changed fundamentally since Russia’s ‘illegal and unprovoked attack on Ukraine’, and it was in the context of this changed geopolitical security, that he convened a national Consultative Forum on International Security Policy in June.
He said the aim of the Forum was to provide an opportunity for discussion on the current global and European security environment, the security threats facing Ireland and the policy options to address these.
The Forum took place over four days in Cork, Galway and Dublin, with 80 panellists and moderators and approximately 1,000 attendees in person. There were eighteen different sessions covering a broad spectrum of security and defence topics. All discussions were live-streamed, with over 10,000 online views. In addition, over 850 written submissions were received through the public consultation process.
The Tánaiste had earlier clashed with Independent TD Catherine Connolly on issues relating to Irelands involvement in the European Peace Facility in Ukraine.
In a heated debate Deputy Connolly said she was “horrified at the Tánaiste’s recent comments on the use of rifles to the effect that they are non-lethal.”
She stated that while she deplored the Russian invasion of Ukraine, “we are a neutral country. We should offer any humanitarian assistance we can (but) We are joining up more and more with a military alliance, despite what the Tánaiste tells us.”
“The figures are absolutely horrific from what I can see. The original cost for the two-year mission to which the Tánaiste refers was about €167 million. I am not sure what we have given to that. Maybe the Tánaiste could tell us. Separate from that is the European Peace Facility, EPF. The total cost for all of that was €5.6 billion when it was set up. That has gone through the roof now and we have given €125 million to that alone. I am running out of time on this. All I can do is put on the record my horror at what is being done in our name.”
The Tánaiste responded by accusing of Deputy Connolly of engaging in “incredible overstatement.”
He insisted that he did not discuss training with President Zelenskyy “because it is on a very minor scale compared to what every other member of the European Union is doing bar Ireland, Malta, and Austria.”
He then told Deputy Connolly to ‘get real here. We are not providing any military support in the form of hardware or weaponry to Ukraine, nor should we suggest we are. This is hyperbole beyond hyperbole.”