I thank Deputy Ó Laoghaire for raising this issue. As he rightly said, there is huge potential in further expanding the Reserve Defence Force and the already incredible work done by its members. I remain committed to bolstering the numbers in the Reserve Defence Force. I am very much aware that the ability to increase its strength is fundamental to the regeneration of the force. The strength of the RDF is a key focus of the Defence Forces office of Reserve affairs. It was a welcome development to have that dedicate…

I thank the Deputy. I agree with some of what he said. It certainly would be factual to say that the Reserve Defence Force went through a rocky period in terms of recruitment and retention. This was through no fault of its own. We have been working in line with the commission on the Defence Forces to get that to a much better place. I acknowledge the Deputy's welcoming some of the progress that has been made. It is factually true that I believe we are now in a place where the Reserve Defence Force is growing in ter…

To be clear, the target in terms of what the effective strength of our Reserve Defence Force should be remains the same. We do not disagree on that figure in terms of where we need to get to. When the regeneration and development plan was published in July 2024, one of the four operational objectives was to get us to that effective strength of at least 80% by 2028. If we were to map out exactly what 80% is, it is around 3,500. That is the sort of ball park we are in. I am not saying that is where we stop, but that …

I propose to take Questions Nos. 9, 15, 44 and 45 together. I reject the Deputy's assertion. That will not come as any surprise to him. As set out in the programme for Government, this Government intends to reform the legislation relating to the triple lock also ensuring that amendments to it are in keeping with our values and our policy of military neutrality. I might be shouting into a black hole in relation to this, but I really do hope we can actually have a debate which can respect that we all want to maintain…

A very worrying thing is beginning to happen in this House where there is a basic lack of respect for the mandate of people who sit on this side of the House. Deputy Connolly has come in here and said that I do not have the trust and respect of the Irish people. I got elected to Dáil Éireann on the same day as she did, as did my colleagues. Together we formed a majority of the people's representatives. We put in our manifesto that if we were elected to government, we would reform the triple lock. We told the Irish …

I agree with Deputy Connolly. We should and do continue to champion the UN and champion reform of the UN. I fully agree with that. I am a huge believer in international law and the workings of the United Nations. At a time when that is under threat from others who are looking inwards and do not believe in multilateralism, we should be even louder in our promotion. I do not disagree on that. However, I also recognise the reality, as I am sure she does that UN Security Council reform is not exactly forthcoming from s…

The Deputy must not have been listening. I will give them again in a second.

I gave them to him; does he want them again? They were: the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force in 1999; in 2015 the Mediterranean operation known as Operation Sophia; the Maritime Analysis Operations Centre (Narcotics) mission operation; and a UN authorisation for EUFOR Operation Althea in Bosnia Herzegovina that we nearly had to miss out on too. These are the examples.

I hope the Deputy heard me that time. I have already given them, but let me give them again. Maybe he does not want to hear them or does not want to engage. Maybe he wants to jump up and say Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil want to get rid of military neutrality. No, we do not. The Deputy might not trust us, but let me assure him that the people of Ireland showed, when they went out to vote in the election, that they do not trust People Before Profit with our foreign policy or our defence policy.

So am I.

Says who?

I am having an out-of-body experience here. I am in favour of Irish neutrality. The Government of Ireland is in favour of Irish neutrality. The Government of Ireland values Irish neutrality. I spend a significant amount of my working week travelling the world explaining to colleagues, partners and counterparts why we value our neutrality. I also value this place and the democratic mandate of the men and women elected to Dáil Éireann in the context of decisions relating to our Defence Forces. The idea of seconding t…

In terms of our defence and security obligations, we have an obligation to do that. On the occupied territories Bill, I do not wish to be misrepresented. I spent all of Monday in Brussels at an EU-Israel association agreement negotiation. It was stated that we have not made no progress. We have made progress. The 27 member states have unanimously agreed to language that I think that even Deputy Connolly might be supportive of in relation to the differentiation between the State of Israel and the illegally occupied …

I thank Deputy Daly for raising this important and timely question in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn, which brought a great deal of devastation to so much of our country, particularly, perhaps, to the Deputy's part of the country, namely the west, and to the north west. I take this opportunity to recognise the contribution made by our Civil Defence units and our Defence Forces in helping those worst affected by the recent storm. As Tánaiste and Minister for Defence - in other words, as their Minister - I thank them f…

I thank Deputies Connolly and Daly. This is my first time engaging with Deputy Connolly, and I congratulate him on his election to Dáil Éireann. I look forward to working with him. I take the point. As he said, we might contest the views of some, but regardless of whether we contest them, I accept they are the deeply held views. It is exactly how people felt in large parts of this country. I have heard very clearly from people in the west and the north west how they felt extremely isolated and anxious and they wond…

The Deputy is entirely right. As he and I know, nobody is more willing to get stuck in, help out and serve their country than the men and women of Óglaigh na hÉireann. It is important to have an even greater level of clarity in terms of interagency response. I will certainly reflect and engage with the Defence Forces in my own Department regarding the medical skills and assistance point. I thank the Deputy for making that point. I agree with Deputy Daly. We have to recognise that there are certain things we have to…

I thank the Deputy again for engaging on this. I accept that we have very different views on this. I am not trying to deny that. How we engage, however, is important. Teasing through detail, our fundamental views and positions and everyone accepting our bona fides is good. I accept the Deputy's bona fides in terms of the value he attaches to military neutrality. Let me be as helpful as I can. The Deputy needs to recognise that I have not brought the Bill to Cabinet yet. I intend to bring the draft legislation and g…

I might come at it from a more positive viewpoint than how the Deputy characterises it. However, I agree with the general point that before we talk about deploying anyone anywhere, we have to make sure we have enough people who are adequately trained, adequately equipped and have the best infrastructure and capabilities available. On that, we might differ in areas of emphasis, but I accept that the Deputy wishes, as I hope he accepts I do, for the men and women of Óglaigh na hÉireann to be properly resourced and th…

I formally congratulate the Deputy on his election. I look forward to working with him and thank him for providing me with the opportunity to outline the investments the Government has made under the infrastructure development plan, IDP, in Stephens Barracks, Kilkenny. I hope to visit it shortly. The Defence Forces IDP sets out a programme of anticipated project delivery based on the achievement of the high-level goals as set out in White Paper 2015. The programme reflects the complex environment in which the Defen…

I certainly will ensure consideration is given to the additional projects the Deputy mentioned, in addition to the two that are scheduled to commence next year, the new military equipment store, locker block and upgrade of the other ranks accommodation block. I will ask my officials to engage with the Defence Forces on the other projects he referred to. We will continue to invest in and support Stephens Barracks. I am aware of the important role it plays in our Defence Forces strategically and the affection and pri…