There has been much discussion over the years about the use of Shannon Airport by American troops. There has been a great deal of talk about our neutrality. As permanent structured co-operation, PESCO, approaches, I am sure such talk is going to increase in volume and quantity over the coming months. It is important that I support Senator Higgins's request for a debate with the Minister on this matter. It is time we established the facts. In my view, the Shannon stopover is not a breach of our neutrality.

Of course it is.

It is not because the troops in question are on a mission sanctioned by the United Nations. There was a time when one might question-----

What about the war in Iraq?

The Senator should be allowed to make his contribution without interruption.

There was a time, in the very early days of the Iraq war, when use of the Shannon stopover might have called into question the issue of our military non-alignment status. However, I am of the view anything sanctioned by the United Nations does not breach that status. We heard this morning that PESCO will enable the Irish Defence Forces to purchase equipment on a global scale by, in effect, bulk-buying it with other countries. We will get better value for money as a result. I do not see anything wrong with that.

There is no possibility whatsoever of a European army. We had a delegation from Latvia here last week, the members of which made clear they are not interested in such a development and will not subscribe to it. Indeed, most of the small countries in Europe that are aligned to NATO have no interest in becoming part of a European army. It is high time we in this House sat down and had an open and honest debate on the matter. Rather than allowing some of the urban myths that are out there to hold sway, let us put the facts on the table and have a discussion on that basis. It is important that our soldiers who go on military and peacekeeping operations overseas have the best equipment possible. More importantly, it is vital that we have the best equipment available here in this country so that we can do what is not currently possible, which is fly large numbers of troops across the State if we need to do so. I ask the Leader to organise that debate.