"I think the greatest threat to Ireland's neutrality is from Dublin, not Brussels..." Glad to join the panel last night on Virgin Media’s Tonight Show to discuss Irish neutrality and the serious underfunding of the Defence Forces. Watch Dr Cathal Berry TD speaking on Virgin Media's Tonight Show here.
Delighted that all the troops are arriving safely home from Syria today. Irish soldiers have served the country proud in Syria over the last 12 years, but today is definitely tinged with sadness. We’ve never had to leave a mission due to lack of staff before. Over the last 12 years, there’s been over a 30% ...
Good to join Pat Kenny on Newstalk along with Declan Power. We discussed Ireland’s capabilities when it comes to defending ourselves. Listen back to the full interview here.
Glad to join Audrey Carville on RTÉ Radio 1 Morning Ireland this morning to discuss the Triple Lock and the need for change. Why should a sovereign independent State seek permission from others to deploy our own forces? Listen to the full interview here.
Irelands’s Atlantic Coast is now ground zero for smuggling narcotics into Europe, primarily due to the precarious state of our Navy. There is no substitute for fully crewed hulls on the water providing a visible maritime presence to deter & disrupt smugglers. Internationally, Ireland’s much vaunted ‘Wild ...
This week in the Dáil I raised the recent humanitarian operation which was carried out by aircraft from France, Jordan, the UAE and Qatar to drop food supplies into the Gaza Strip. It seems that this is precisely the type of humanitarian operation that Ireland should be involved in. Ireland could easily ...
Good to join Áine Lawlor on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland to discuss plans by the Government to remove the Triple-Lock on the deployment of the Defence Forces on overseas missions. Listen here.
This month, a memorial was unveiled in Athy to remember Private Declan Deere (21), Private Jonathan Murphy (21), Private Brendan Fitzpatrick (19) and Private Matthew John Lawlor (23) who tragically died in a road traffic accident in Lebanon, while serving as United Nations Peacekeepers on February 14th 2000. ...
I spoke in the Dail recently about the important role that Irish people are playing in the Middle East at the moment. I highlighted the Irish civilians working incredibly hard for peace, in UN agencies such as UNRA, and the 500 Irish troops who are out there stabilising the area, maintaining humanitarian access ...
Great to see the new Cadet School HQ in the Curragh nearly completed. A €4.3m refurbishment. Much more desperately needed. Hopefully, the instructor staff can soon move out of the shipping containers on the parade square & into this new facility. Well done to all involved.
A very disappointing budget day for the Defence Forces today. Despite all the warnings regarding defence, the government has failed to deliver. All we are asking the government to do is to implement their own reports. These reports have given Defence Force members nothing but heartache and false hope. It’s the ...
“It was a very successful operation, but this was probably due to the courage of the people involved rather than the resources …. and we were asking the individuals to take on additional unnecessary risk as a result of this.” Good to join Áine Lawlor on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics recently to discuss the drug ...
