I need people to know that those involved are professional soldiers and that they will be looked after. If they need to be pulled out, they will be.

Tomorrow night in Belfast, there will be an event recognising those who work in the blue light sector for excellence and those who are in the voluntary sector as well. One of the great things about that event was one of the top people awarded was a man from County Wexford with search and rescue dogs. The level of training that goes into his dogs is incredible. They have worked internationally in very serious situations. It is something of which we should be very proud. There is a hope that the same event will move …

I want to put something on the record. There has been a lot of talk here about the triple lock. There are many things coming in that legislation apart from the triple lock and I hope we will not find ourselves bogged down discussing something that is not related to our neutrality or our military non-alignment. If we think that is going to happen, it should be taken out of the legislation and let us have the legislation for the triple lock at a different time. Today we launch the national maritime strategy. Have we …

Tá fáilte roimh an Aire chun an Tí anocht. Nuair a bhí mé i mo shuí anseo ag éisteacht le-----

Níl ach trí nóiméad agam. Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach as sin. Nuair a bhí mé i mo shuí tráthnóna ag éisteacht leis na Seanadóirí, rith sé liom gur teanga mhaith álainn í an Ghaeilge. Tá mo chuid Gaeilge féin uafásach. Is pleidhce mór mé as a bheith anseo ag labhairt Gaeilge. Deir sé ar an suaitheantas atá á chaitheamh agam go bhfuil cúpla focal agam, agus is é sin an méid a bhfuil agam. Nuair a bhí mé níos óige agus ag freastal ar scoil i nGaillimh 60 bliain ó shín, bhí an fháinne agam agus bhí mé i mo …

The Minister is welcome to the House. I think this is the first time I have addressed her since she was returned at the last election. I congratulate her on taking the foreign affairs, trade and defence portfolios. Today marks the fourth anniversary of Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine and it is over 12 years since Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula. I am here to speak of the work of the UCD Ukraine trauma project, an Irish initiative that is saving lives every day in Ukraine, often within minutes of injury and…

I thank the Minister for a very comprehensive response. I am extremely proud of Ireland and the Irish people for what we have done for Ukraine but the basis of all humanitarian aid has to start with the preservation of human life. Human lives can be saved. We see the statistics are quite stark, with between 10% and 25% mortality catered for. The essence is to get the project up and running again. I implore the Minister to ring-fence €558,000 out of the money allocated to Ukraine for this project because it is deliv…

I too recognise the Estonian ambassador visiting here on Estonia day. She has been extremely supportive to me over her term in Ireland, facilitating a number of delegations to Estonia in order that we could put together a vision paper for cybersecurity, which we will launch in the next couple of weeks. It has been four years since the incursion into mainland Ukraine started and 12 years and four days since the incursion into Crimea. We have to remember the Crimea incident was the start. Europe turned a blind eye to…

I second Senator McCarthy's motion.

I second the motion.

I am glad I made it in time. There is much discussion at the moment about children and access to social media. Clearly, Ireland is a bit of a laggard with respect to how we are dealing with this issue. However, something we should implement from fourth class onwards in national schools is a cyber awareness campaign. This would include Internet hygiene and the use of the Internet. We should not be afraid of using any resources that are available for research purposes. I have huge reservations about social media. I r…

First and foremost, I congratulate all the MEPs who were returned to the European Parliament. I know I am a bit late in doing so. I am very proud of them. I have a defence question for Billy Kelleher, MEP. Ireland has hidden behind neutrality, although we are not neutral. We are militarily non-aligned but we do not qualify as neutral under international law. We have hidden behind neutrality to stop investment in defence. We are about to take over the Presidency of the European Union and we are not equipped to provi…

The Minister for Defence made a statement on radio in the last few days about Ireland boarding Russian shadow ships. I do not blame the Minister, as she is in the job a couple of weeks, but somebody somewhere advised her it would be possible for us to do this. It is not possible for Ireland to board shadow ships. Even if we do and we find contraband, be it oil or anything else, what do we do with it? The one ship we have is costing us €100,000 a week to keep in Cork because we cannot dispose of it; that follows the…

In the newspaper today, I read that the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, condemns negative noise over defence and security. What a hard neck. He presided over this State for the past 20 years, in one way or another, as Taoiseach, Minister for Defence or Leader of the Opposition. He is culpable for the defenceless state of this country. He then lauds the co-operation there was in Copenhagen during the EU Presidency when Denmark suffered a drone attack and how all the neighbouring countries came to support Copenhagen. Does…

It is no surprise I am again speaking on defence and defence issues. The first issue I want to speak about is that of drones and the purchase of that equipment. We have had Ministers speaking on television about how three months is plenty of time to have the Defence Forces up and ready for Ireland's Presidency of the European Union. Can any of those Ministers tell me what knowledge or expertise they have in the training and implementation of anti-drone equipment? We need to be honest with the public. We need to be …

Somehow or other, the Minister of State and I always seem to finish up together in this House when difficult questions come up. Her follow-up on recent topics I have discussed with her has been commendable. She does a good job and I am grateful to her for what she does.

The weekend Pope John Paul II died will never leave my mind. It was not because I had any great affinity for His Holiness. Rather, it was because it was after a week's conference when I was in Rosslare as president of the Teachers' Union of Ireland. I had a pain in my back all week. On the night I arrived in Rosslare, His Holiness was dying and I sat in a chair in absolute agony. Nothing I could do would ease the pain. I spent the entire night awake and the following morning I left Rosslare at about 6.30 a.m. By th…

Last Friday morning, Mr. Barry Andrews MEP launched a paper entitled Irish National Security in a Changing World. It is researched by the former Deputy Cathal Berry. When we look at the executive summary inside, we see that the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, is quoted as stating in March 2025 that "Europe must do more to secure its own security and defence," acknowledging that "Ireland is not immune from these threats". In December, Deloitte told us that we are at the most dangerous point in recent history. During a re…

The Minister of State is welcome to the House. This is the first time I have addressed him in this House since his elevation, so I congratulate him on that. I would like to start off on a positive note. Having been with the Minister of State among coastal communities, I do believe that he has a natural empathy with the fishing community in Ireland. I also believe that when he returned from Europe following the recent negotiations, he was as hurt as any of the fishing families in the country by what has happened. Fo…

I welcome the announcement this week that the Holocaust is to be taught in our secondary schools to junior certificate and leaving certificate students. In welcoming the announcement, I am somewhat concerned that history has been somewhat downgraded in the educational curriculum and that is a pity. Two weeks ago I visited Auschwitz in Poland and as I walked through the Auschwitz camp and was led through what happened there and later that day went through Belsen, I could not help but think about how man's inhumanity…