On the schedule, there is a proposal to approve Ireland's further participation in the PESCO military project without debate. Some of us believe that PESCO is putting in place the basis for a European army and that the Government is waging a very sustained attack on our neutrality, most recently expressed by the Taoiseach claiming we do not need a referendum to join NATO. There is, of course, a very sustained call from NATO to increase military expenditure across the EU. Now we have a proposal to move from Ireland's current involvement in one PESCO project to an additional four PESCO projects, further involving Ireland in arrangements with the European militarisation project and with NATO, with non-EU forces and their military projects, as one of the projects suggests. At the very minimum, this should be debated in the Dáil because some of us are going to fight to the death to prevent the Government from destroying Ireland's neutrality.

The comments from the Opposition are deeply disingenuous. Sinn Féin is the wealthiest party in Ireland with over 200 staff, 50 properties and a network of fundraising in the United States, as well as an inheritance that would be illegal here in this Republic. With the greatest respect to the Deputy opposite, he has some neck to start lecturing other parties on fundraising. There is nothing wrong with political parties having legitimate means of fundraising. If that is by a raffle, there is nothing wrong with that. Providing for that in law, in my view, is the correct thing to do. It is transparent and open. Political parties should have legitimate avenues to raise money within the legal framework. That is simply what is going on here.

Why not scrutinise it now?

If the Deputy looks back at Sinn Féin's history and the history of his movement going back over decades, I would love a similar level of transparency in respect of the historical fundraising his movement engaged in over the decades. I really mean that. If Sinn Féin wants to hold other parties up to scrutiny, it should hold itself-----

Where did Fianna Fáil come from? What happened in Cork in the 1920s?

Sinn Féin has raised $15 million in the United States over the last number of years. It received €4 million of an inheritance.

All legal.

God only knows what happened when Sinn Féin and the Provisional IRA were one and the same thing. No one knows where the money went then or how it was translated. That is the bottom line.

Last year, Fianna Fáil was raising money illegally, half a million.

I really would love scrutiny and transparency in respect of all of that. When I come to Deputy Nash, his party has had alternative means of fundraising through a proportion of trade union subscriptions down through the years as well. Many of those trade union members were Fianna Fáil supporters and voters as well as anybody else.

That is very different.

That was limited in 2015 when there was a limit placed on corporate donations. We changed the law.

Let us not pretend that this was some sort of stroke or whatever. It is not. We have some of the better legal frameworks governing political fundraising in this Republic.

Thanks to the Labour Party and no thanks to Fianna Fáil.

Yes, thanks to Fianna Fáil, actually, and other parties in what has transpired over the last 20 years in terms of this Legislature.

Should we thank Fianna Fáil for every tribunal we ever had?

The comments have been overstated. It struck me that when Deputy Fitzpatrick raised what for him and others in the north east is a legitimate issue, he was shouted down by everybody because he was not obeying the dictatorial attitude of everybody. In other words, because he was not discussing the issue the Deputies raised, all of them were saying he was out of order. All he wanted was time to discuss Navan hospital.

Not all Governments support Independents.

That is democracy - shout down the Independents because they are raising issues of legitimate concern to them but that do not suit the agenda. It is a sign of what is to come if we do not toe the line with certain agendas on a given day, politically and democratically speaking.

This is distraction.

In response to Deputy Boyd Barrett, there will be a full debate after committee in respect of the issue he raised, namely, participation in four PESCO projects as opposed to one. I have no difficulty with that. We need interoperability and we need to work on a whole range of issues, from peacekeeping to peace enforcement, and making sure we have the capacity to do all that.

Deputy Mattie McGrath raised the issue of An Bord Pleanála. There is a review under way in respect of the specific issue, which the Minister has announced. We should await the outcome of that review.