There is no vote today on the triple lock. It is mentioned in the report. That will come with legislation. There is a vote on whether we participate in subsea cable projects under PESCO. There is a vote on whether we participate in cyber exercises under PESCO. We should. We saw what happened with the attack on the HSE. The only way we will be resilient in terms of cyber security in this country is if we work with other EU member states and countries in terms of how we combat and resist criminal organisations and st…

Since Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, the number of cyber attacks has grown exponentially. That is a reality.

There are cyber attacks left, right and centre. We have to build up resilience. These are modest proposals before us. The PESCO proposals are very modest. Yesterday, at the committee there was the Chair and two members. There was no evidence yesterday that people were exercised about this.

Deputy Cronin suggested that I made a light case for the PESCO projects. I did not. I was quite comprehensive and substantive. The Deputy's spokesperson could not make it yesterday; he asked for a debate at the committee but was not in a position to attend, which can happen. The bottom line is that I attended the committee yesterday for an hour and 45 minutes. There was no real argument about participating in an energy management course, the critical seabed infrastructure programme under PESCO or the cyber space pr…

To be fair, I do not think Deputy Murphy believes we should have an army at all.

Deputy Barry said he wants to cut defence expenditure. He wants to cut the amount of money we are giving to the Army and Defence Forces, which is fair enough. That is his position. He said it. He said we should cut military expenditure. That is Deputy Barry's position. I believe that Deputy Murphy's position is that he believes we should not have an army at all. That is my view.

Whatever that means. You have your view. There is somewhat of a false presentation regarding the triple lock. Deputies accuse me of misinformation. We are not guilty of any misinformation. The UN General Assembly cannot approve a peacekeeping operation in practice. Deputies know that. Such operations are only ever deployed on the basis of mandates from the United Nations Security Council. The General Assembly cannot compel action.

In certain instances where a matter has been considered by the Security Council and has been the subject of a veto, the General Assembly may consider it and make a recommendation to UN members for collective action. We did that recently regarding the issue of Palestine. Ultimately, while other organs of the UN make recommendations to member states under the UN charter, the Council alone has the power to take decisions which member states are obligated to implement. Only once in history has the UN General Assembly i…

-----will approve or not approve peacekeeping missions. It has not approved any since 2014. That is the bottom line. I mentioned Russia. I do not believe Irish foreign policy or our decision to participate in peacekeeping missions should be vetoed by a country like Russia. I will name Russia. Deputy Howlin asked me what our policy is anchored in. It is anchored in multilateralism. It is centred on human rights. This was demonstrated by our performance on the Security Council for two years. Our policy involved a pea…

I am not talking about you; I am talking about Deputy Murphy, who clearly did not want it to happen.

The Deputy was of the view that it should not happen. You try to entrap people who participated and it continues. Deputy Carthy said publicly at one stage that he would support PESCO projects.

He said that if he were ever elected to Government, he would not reverse participation-----

He spoke publicly. It was interpreted at the time as meaning that he would not reverse-----

What I am now hearing from Sinn Féin is that it will oppose our participation in the PESCO projects that are before us today for approval.

Sinn Féin is going to oppose a proposal for four to six members of the Defence Forces, per year, to participate in an energy management course that will cost €1,500. It is doing so for reasons I do not know. That is Sinn Féin's foreign policy for you. We have 17 installations. The Defence Forces are the biggest users of energy in the public service. Why is there an objection to the Defence Forces participating in an EDA or PESCO programme to learn about energy-saving technologies? Why in the name of God would anyon…

On the pay issue, there are significant changes. We have removed the requirement for a private to mark time for the first three years. We have provided for payment of the full rate of military service allowance to all. The patrol duty allowance is being doubled. New public service pay agreements will apply. All of this means that on completion of training, which takes approximately 24 weeks, recruits will now start on €39,321 in year one, move to €40,718 in year two and to €42,005 in year three. A graduate cadet, o…

I move: That Dáil Éireann approves Ireland's participation in the following: (i) two Permanent Structured Cooperation Projects in accordance with the Programme for Government commitment: (a) Network of Logistic Hubs in Europe and Support to Operations, and (b) Critical Seabed Infrastructure Protection and the associated Category B European Defence Agency support to the project, and (ii) two European Defence Agency projects pursuant to section 2 of the Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009: (a) Defence Energy …

I propose to take Questions Nos. 59 and 61 together. I thank the Deputies for raising this serious question. I wish again to express my unequivocal condemnation of any form of gender-based violence. Such behaviour has no place in a modern society or in the Defence Forces. Let me be quite clear about this: the Defence Forces are not a place where someone who has been convicted of serious offences, including sexual offences or domestic or gender-based violence, can continue to serve. At the outset, it is also importa…

In respect of the individual in the Naval Service, there is currently a process under way, which may be coming to a conclusion. I have been advised by the Attorney General's office the less comment now at this stage, given the potential impact on that process, the better. I hope the House understands that I am not going to comment further on it other than to say, generally, there are regulations which facilitate the discharge of people who have been convicted. I note that 68 people have not been convicted. Of the a…

I too salute the courage of Natasha O'Brien in making very clear her position as a victim. I am conscious that the case has now been appealed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, so I cannot comment any further. Since I became Minister for Defence, I have focused on changing the culture in the Defence Forces. I mentioned earlier the external oversight body that has been established. There was a lot of resistance in the House to that when the legislation went through. It is now in the other House. I ask Depu…