Foreign Policy
Dail Éireann — 2023-06-15
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Mick Barry (PBP), Cork North-Central

A wide range of speakers, yes; a wide range of viewpoints, I do not think so. I have the speaker list here. Let us go through it. It includes Andrew Cottey, NATO research fellow, Chris Johnson, fellowship in the US Air Force, Caitríona Heinl, who has advised NATO, and Christian Bueger, who has worked for the US Department of State and trained members of the Singapore Navy. Singapore was a dictatorship the last time I checked. John O'Brennan has raised joining NATO. James Mackey is director of security policy and partnerships in NATO and has worked in NATO for 20 years. Commander Roberta O'Brien of the Irish Naval Service is currently on secondment to the NATO defence-capacity-building unit. I give the last word on the matter to economist Dan O'Brien, who stated: "I think we would be right to join NATO." They say that birds of a feather flock together. If that is the case, it would seem to me that many hawks are flying into Cork, Galway and Dublin over the next couple of weeks. How can the Tánaiste say that this is anything other than a pro-NATO jamboree?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-06-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:01+00:00
Sitting date: 2023-06-15