Address to Seanad Éireann by Members of the European Parliament Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-23 ============================================================ Tom Clonan (IND), University of Dublin Fáilte abhaile ar ais chuig an Teach seo. I thank our guests for their exceptional public service. That commute over and back to Strasbourg and Brussels is very hard on families and individuals and it should not be taken lightly. It is a huge sacrifice, especially at particular times in people's lives. We are exceptionally well-represented in Europe. I recall that MEP Andrews recently appeared before the Joint Committee on Defence and National Security to talk about defence, security and priorities we ought to have. Unfortunately, I was called away to the Order of Business and when I came back, I apologised to Barry for missing his contribution. He said to me, "Do not worry about that, Tom. I was kind of hoping you wouldn't come back". When it comes to verbal acuity and discourse, we are exceptionally well-represented, not just in Dublin but nationwide. I know we all have our differences, but my experience of this House has been that people are very collegial. I will ask a few questions. In our Presidency of the EU, the Government, Tánaiste and Taoiseach identified security as being a key theme. We have heard people like Kaja Kallas and Ursula von der Leyen say that we are on the precipice of a major ground invasion by Russia into continental Europe and that it is at the point of attacking a NATO member. I see frequently Irish media reports citing the head of German intelligence saying that an attack on Europe is imminent. Belgorod is the most important strategic military pathway into Ukraine for the Russians. It is in the Belgorod oblast and is 80 km from Kharkiv. That is less than 50 miles but in five years of war, the Russians have failed to get down the road to Kharkiv. Yet, we are told that it is on the point of, if you like, invading one of the Baltic states and perhaps expanding that and escalating to arrive in Helsinki and maybe Copenhagen or Stockholm. The Russians have been operating with brigade combat teams. Have the MEPs seen any evidence that the Russians have the hundreds of divisions it would take - the millions of troops in divisions, armies and army groups that would be required - to conduct a conventional land invasion of Europe? Have they seen any evidence to that extent? I do not mean “Dúirt bean liom go ndúirt bean léi”. I mean that I take everything that Commission officials say with a pinch of salt because I do not see any evidence for that. What I do see, and I would be curious to see if the MEPs share this view, is that we are probably going to see a return to Cold War spending on defence and security, which is a pity. It is something that is outside of our control, prompted by Vladimir Putin and his fragile vanity. The second thing I want to ask relates to drones during the European Union Presidency. In February 2019, a consumer drone caused the closure of Dublin Airport. In 2023, there were six closures of Dublin Airport when small consumer drones about the size of my hand were sighted in the environment of the airport. On 1 December 2025, the LÉ William Butler Yeats confirmed it had sighted several military and industrial grade drones operating in the flight path of aircraft going in and out of Dublin Airport. However, no action was taken. Despite the fact that it observed those for hours, no notification to airmen or women was issued. The airport was not closed, flights were not diverted and, crucially, pilots and air crew were not informed of the threat. On 8 September, at 6,000 ft, a black military drone was observed and reported by an Aer Lingus pilot coming into Dublin Airport and, again, no action was taken, no notification was given to other aircraft, no airspace was closed and the airport continued uninterrupted. Last week, a red military grade drone was spotted at 3,000 ft, 20 m off the left wing or port wing of an Aer Lingus aircraft. Again, no airspace was closed and there was no notification to air personnel. Are the MEPs satisfied when they fly in and out of Ireland that they are safe? Across Europe, when these drones are spotted, they routinely close airspace. In the 1990s, we had 600 commercial field growers in Ireland. We now have 60. We import 83% of our fruit and vegetables. I think of climate change. I drove from Bilbao through the centre of Spain and down to the south of Portugal. We drove through hundreds of kilometres of burnt, scorched earth. Food security and water security are priorities for us. Is there anything that we can do in Europe to identify and prioritise the real threats to Ireland’s future security? --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-09-23/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-23