Neutrality and Triple Lock: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-16
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Sinéad Gibney (SD), Dublin Rathdown

The other part of this I really have to call out is the Minister's depiction of Europe because I have continuously called out that we are on a path toward militarisation in Europe. I have attended two events this week where representatives of the Government have said that Europe is the most important peace project in the history of the world, which I fully agree with, but it is not right now because of what is happening, including increased spending on defence and restructuring of financial frameworks towards defence spending.
There was a headline today on thejournal.ie that said, "Ireland losing out financially as Europe ramps up defence spending, minister admits". That is referring to the Minister for Defence's colleague, Deputy Thomas Byrne. I agree with it but his response is not to bring our neutral stance to Europe to criticise that. His is to say that we need to foster and develop that industry here. That is not in line with our policy of neutrality, and that is not what the Irish people want. I want to support indigenous business but not to create bullets that are going to kill people across the world-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-16