The ambassador is welcome to the House today. It is amazing that it took a war in Ukraine to bring us all so close together. I hope that closeness continues.

I express my thanks to the Irish Air Corps for going the extra mile and flying to Romania yesterday to bring home parents and their surrogate children. People have said things about the Air Corps in this place, about it not being regulated and this, that and the other, but when it is required to step up to the plate, it always steps up to the plate.

Irish neutrality and Irish military non-alignment is now very much in public discourse. Most people now accept that Ireland is not and never has been a neutral country. We do not conform to the requirements of the Hague Convention of 1907 as a neutral country, therefore we cannot claim neutrality. What we can claim is that we are militarily non-aligned. I heard the words "politically neutral" used the other day. There is no such concept. We come out with such nonsense to try to explain ourselves.

Since 1999, under Chapter 8 of the UN charter, Ireland has deployed with regional organisations. One might ask what is the difference. If we deploy with the United Nations, we wear a blue beret. If we deploy under a regional organisation, which includes the EU and NATO, we wear the beret of our nation. In the case of the Irish Defence Forces, it is the black beret.

Ireland and NATO have been in public discourse for some time. Let us talk about that for a few moments. The Irish Partnership for Peace has been working with NATO since 1999. The Defence Forces spent considerable, time, effort and expense getting NATO operational capabilities concept, OCC, phase 1 certification for the Naval Service LE George Bernard Shaw and for the Army Ranger Wing. Therefore, while we are not aligned with NATO, we are damn close to it.

Senior officers in the Defence Forces complete the NATO planning process module and are NATO certified on successful completion as part of the senior command and staff course. All military NATO doctrine is referenced and used in Defence Forces doctrine, so it is definitely aligned with NATO. Ireland does not use the training doctrine or certification from Russia or China. Therefore, we are not aligned with them.

The White Paper on defence in 2015 categorically states we should increase our alignment with regional actors such as NATO and the EU entities. Ireland is very much aligned militarily with NATO but the real fact is we are incapable of delivering any commitment to NATO, if asked, because of the current state of our Defence Forces. When the Minister talks about neutrality, military non-alignment and political neutrality, he should probably sit down and study precisely what we are before he makes statements. Could we please be honest about this and stop being afraid? NATO is not a bad word. Being allied to NATO is not a bad thing. People need to stop muddying the waters on neutrality. There is nothing wrong with proactive military alignment when it is required. Ireland is aligned with NATO, but it exercises its right to refrain militarily from NATO activities, save those that are under Chapter 8 of the UN charter.

The bottom line is this country needs to have a discussion on neutrality. Until that discussion happens, however, we are sitting on armaments today that we can send to Ukraine. I have seen people standing with their shoulders to tanks to try to stop them rolling into their towns. I have photographs that were given to me this morning by the ambassador from Ukraine and they are horrific. We cannot sit idly by. I do not want bloodshed but I want people to be able to defend themselves. We should send the weapons.

I, too, wish to extend a word of welcome to the ambassador. She is very welcome to the Seanad.

Earlier this week, we held the 61st plenary session of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. I must say that it was a very worthwhile endeavour, as it usually is. It is the first in-person plenary we have been able to hold since the start of the pandemic. While it was a much shorter event this time around, it allowed us a great opportunity to engage between institutions and parliamentarians right across these islands at such a crucial time globally but, indeed, here at home and between these islands as well. We have in this House a number of very committed members of that body. The work that it does sometimes gets overlooked. I propose that going forward, the relevant committees of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, which do some very good scrutiny work and engagement, would perhaps be able to be discussed and platformed in this institution. I will raise that issue with the Leader and hope to bring it to the Committee on Parliamentary Privileges and Oversight at an appropriate time. I think that would be a good opportunity.

I tabled a Commencement matter this morning on the issue of the referendum to extend presidential voting rights to citizens outside the State. The Minister of State pretty much informed me of what I have known for some time now, which is that the referendum Bill is on the Order Paper and the Minister for Foreign Affairs will be sponsoring that legislation. Will the Leader use her good office to encourage the Minister and his Government colleagues to bring that Bill before the Oireachtas? We are about to head into the St. Patrick's Day celebrations and travel around the world to tell our diaspora just how much we value them and that they have a stake in the life of their home. We have committed to not leaving citizens in the North behind. This is a real and tangible way in which we can show citizens that they are valued and have a stake in the life of the nation. As the President said, he is not the President of a land mass but of the Irish people. It is only right, therefore, that Irish people wherever they reside, across Ireland or throughout the world, have the opportunity to vote. We could initiate that referendum Bill in this House. We have discussed this issue at length in previous Seanaid and there is support right across the House. This is a short, succinct Bill. In saying that, however, I am not advocating that we do anything haphazard. We need to ensure this referendum is won. We need to bring the same level of positivity, collaboration and inclusion to that referendum as we have seen with others in the past few years. I look forward to the Leader's response. Hopefully, it is something on which we can work going forward to ensure that Bill is done as speedily and efficiently as possible.