This is my concern. My concern is with the way this is worded and framed at the moment. It suggests that any organisation that has worked under a UN mandate could become an organisation to which we could second staff, or to which we could second a contingent of the Irish Defence Forces. Moreover, with this new legislation, it could be an organisation to which we could delegate command. In that context, that is exactly my point. If we are working with NATO under a UN mandate, that is fine. That is what we are doing.…

That is what I am suggesting.

It makes sense because we are militarily non-aligned. We should not be working with a military bloc, a military contingent and a regional grouping that is aligned, that acts on the basis of interests and that acts on a completely different mandate from us, except in situations where we share a common mandate in a United Nations activity. That is appropriate-----

Yes, I am talking about seconding people in that context. I have taken on board the Minister's point about the difference between seconding individuals and seconding contingents. However, the legislation as it stands allows for the seconding of a contingent - a whole group of Irish military forces - to an international organisation. These international organisations could, as has been outlined, include NATO. The new legislation allows for the formalisation of command control. I do not think that this scenario is li…

Can the Minister respond so we can put the question?

That is not the effect I meant, because it said "any European agency". I did change that.

I move amendment No. 4: In page 12, between lines 22 and 23, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 3 of Act of 2006 17. Section 3 of the Act of 2006 is amended— (a) in subsection (1)(a) by the substitution of “an” for “any”, and (b) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (2): “(3) In exercising its functions under subsection (1)(a), the Government shall only approve secondment of a contingent or member of the Permanent Defence Force to an international organisation which is not the U…

I move amendment No. 5: In page 12, between lines 22 and 23, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 3 of Act of 2006 17. Section 3 of the Act of 2006 is amended in subsection (1)(a) by the insertion of “under a United Nations mandate” after “international organisation”.”.

I thank the Minister. It is good to have him in the House. The idea of a common response and common action in respect of financial and fiscal threat is something everybody supports. The idea of the common backstop and a stability mechanism is, of course, important but there is much to discuss in the detail. Significant mistakes have been made in the past and it is not clear how they have been learned from. It is important that we be clear that the Eurogroup is separate to our EU institutions and is not one of them.…

If those are the kinds of policies coming through on how we approach banks in this budget, how can we have confidence in how the stability mechanism will engage with banks and hold them to account in the future?

I thank Senator Lombard. People have used the phrase "missed opportunity" a lot to describe this budget. It seems like a cliché, but it is true. This was an unusual budget and we had an unusual opportunity. This was the budget in which the fiscal rules and constraints that have often blocked us from long-term thinking and investment were suspended. As Senator Ardagh said, this was done in recognition that the pandemic exposed that our public services, national infrastructure and social fabric had been strained by y…

It was welcomed but they went on to say we need €85 million in investment.

An €85 million investment is particularly needed in the light of the Covid crisis, when The Lancet has said mental health issues and anxiety disorders are at the highest level they have ever been globally. I welcome the proposals for budgetary reform but I note gender and equality proofing of budgets was a reform we were promised six years ago. The system was being piloted over two or three years and it has now vanished. Where is the gender and equality proofing and the process for proofing of this budget? If it wa…

I will begin by setting out the context in terms of the facts as to where we are, namely, in a climate emergency on a planet that is in a dire situation due to the impact of emissions. Yesterday, in the budget, it was again acknowledged that the science is uncompromising and that the world is burning. In that context, peatlands are the largest natural terrestrial carbon store that we have. Peatlands sequester more than 0.37 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide each year. When we damage peatlands, they emit emissions. Damag…

In discussing the budget, I will look at more than the question of what and how much we are spending. The problem is that we have missed the opportunity in this budget to spend better. The fiscal rules have been suspended for years and we are allowed to do things for the long-term benefit of the State. The balancing of the books is no longer a constraint because the fiscal rules have been suspended. We are always told we cannot do certain things because we would have to create a special vehicle to do them and the S…

I will speak briefly. Later, we will discuss amendments dealing with how humanitarian assistance is treated under legislation. The definition that we have proposed is based on the European Parliament's report. It relates to fundamental rights and, in the wider sense, human rights. We have gone with a definition that has been used and that has strong agreement, but the core of our argument is that there must be a definition and that humanitarian assistance should be recognised. In terms of fundamental rights and hum…

I will be brief because we will come to the points the Minister of State was making later regarding the adequacy of a defence approach. We will have an opportunity to go back and forth on that. I do not agree that a defence versus an exemption is an adequate approach or, indeed, an approach of leadership when, as we have heard, seven countries have given a full exemption. We will have an opportunity to discuss that in subsequent amendments in more detail. I note what the Minister of State has said on where cases mi…

I support the amendment.

As Senator Ruane outlined, we are aware of these existing but the core is that the functions under this Act are carried out. We have had a litany of cases. Many parts of the Bill, for example, relate to Irish ships and to ships in the Mediterranean Sea. We have had situations of serious concern, with breaches of human rights in interventions in the Mediterranean. I know that Belarus is not directly concerned here but we heard about it in the debate. A member state, Poland, is effectively denying people their rights…

On Senator Ward's points, we have tried to address that in our phrasing. We did not say that the State shall perform its functions in a manner consistent with this. We are conscious that the State is already obliged to do that. We are really looking for an extra level of the State ensuring the operation of these functions, especially since there are sections of this legislation where power is delegated and we have engagement with other states within the protocol. At present, Poland is clearly signalling that it wil…