asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the Government will call for a freeze in military budgets as a contribution to the cause of world disarmament.

The freezing and gradual reduction of military budgets as a way of bringing about disarmament has frequently been proposed at the United Nations. Ireland has had a particular interest in this idea and we included it in a comprehensive programme on disarmament which we and certain other member states proposed at the United Nations in 1970.

In his speech at the UN Special Session on Disarmament in 1978 the former Taoiseach, Deputy Lynch, put forward a related idea. He suggested that the General Assembly might consider adopting as a voluntary target a percentage limit on military expenditure—expressed perhaps as a percentage of GNP—which states would be encouraged to observe. His proposal, with other proposals at the Special Session, was forwarded to the Committee on Disarmament for further consideration.

The final document agreed by consensus at the Special Session, did state that the gradual reduction of military budgets on a mutually agreed basis would contribute to curbing the arms race. It was agreed that the General Assembly should continue to consider what practical steps could be taken in this area. These efforts have, however, not resulted in any commitment by the major military powers to freeze or reduce their military budgets.

There have been a number of resolutions at the General Assembly on this matter over the years, including a resolution by Sweden proposing a standardised method of measuring and comparing military budgets, which Ireland has co-sponsored.

Most recently at the 1979 Session of the General Assembly we co-sponsored a resolution, tabled by Romania, which made the proposal to freeze and reduce military budgets a priority item on the agenda for the next meeting of the United Nations Disarmament Commission which takes place in New York in May.

In face of the recent deterioration in the international climate there is a tendency on the part of great powers to increase rather than reduce their military expenditure. Nevertheless we will continue to do what we can to encourage the idea of a reduction of military budgets as a step towards general disarmament under effective international control.

Is there not a pharasaical note in the Minister's criticism of the great powers when in fact the Republic of Ireland, one of the small powers, has increased its military budget in spite of what Deputy Jack Lynch called the rhetoric of disarmament? The only real increase in budgetary spending here this year has been on military spending.

The Deputy is drawing a very long hoe if he seeks to relate our increase in military spending to the military expenditure of the major powers. There is absolutely no comparison. It is a different league. It is dishonest to suggest otherwise.

Is the Minister not aware of the discrepancy between what his Government are saying in the United Nations and elsewhere and what they are actually doing here, without drawing any comparisons between Irish defence spending and United States defence spending?

There are two different arms perspectives. The Irish dimension, in regard to our military requirements, is so totally different from the dimension involved in the great powers that the two are just not comparable and the Deputies know that.

Is the Minister saying that the credibility of this country's approach in the United Nations does not suffer when anybody with two eyes can read what we are doing ourselves?

We need an effective Irish Army, an effective Air Corps and an effective Naval Service for our requirements and we do not apologise for making our forces effective.

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