Presidential Election 2025

MM is making the same distinction here = childish?

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said the Government would send Irish troops to Ukraine to be part of a peacekeeping force if there is a ceasefire and a peace deal that ends the war.

“We’re willing to be part of a ceasefire if there’s monitoring or a peacekeeping mission,” Mr Martin told The Irish Times Inside Politics podcast. “If a ceasefire is arrived at . . . we’ve made it very clear we’re willing to do that or at least to contribute to that.”

He said Ireland would not be willing to be part of a “deterrent force” as it would not be “in keeping with our policy of military neutrality or non-alignment”.

“It’s arguable that it wouldn’t be, but we don’t want to be part of that,” he said. “That’s not what we’re about. We don’t have the military capability for scenarios like that, but we are experienced at peacekeeping, and we are experienced in peace monitoring. We’ve done it, we’ve done it all over the world.”

*bolding mine

If we want a different type of Army, not a Defence/Peacekeeping force, then we would have to give it the 'military capability'.

No thanks, is Martin's and Connolly's view (and mine)

This pedantry over the word army is ridiculous, when the word Army is used in relation to our own Defense Forces it is specifically and obviously referencing the ground forces of said Defense Forces, the idea that the word Army implies it is an offensive apparatus is obsurd. Our Military are a Defensive and Peacekeeping Force but we need to properly fund them and equip them for them to be effective at either. Connolly and others like her prevaricating over a word only harms their effectiveness in doing the Peacekeeping they claim to want them to be involved in

She fully supports the role of our Defence Forces, she laid that support out unequivocally in the Dáil speech this phrase is plucked from.

I will finish by making a few general points on what our Defence Forces are 100 years on.

The clue is in the title. They are defence forces. I am very proud of them and we have a barracks in Galway. I am very proud, as is every Member of the Dáil, of our Defence Forces.

We all stand fully behind their most basic demands in terms of money and conditions. What is happening under the Government's watch, and I do not wish to personalise this, is truly shocking.

This is not an army. Ireland will never be able to have an army. We do not need an army. We are an independent, neutral, sovereign country. Our strength lies in our independent voice. Our strength lies in making the UN institutions function better. 

I would hazard a guess that is a very similar view to our current President and it has caused no issues in the two terms he has served.

Two terms during which, it has to be said, the sitting governments did more harm to our Defences Forces morale and well being, than the lad in the Áras or Connolly did.

So, to be clear, Catherine Connolly and the parties backing her say we "cannot trust" our European partners on matters military, yet she and they will advocate to MAINTAIN A VETO OF THOSE SAME COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS, OVER THE FOREIGN AND DEFENCE POLICY OF THIS STATE.

Catherine Connolly is deeply unserious, utterly naive and completely compromised person, whose opinions, interests and personal associations are absolutely out of alignment with those of this nation.

The nearest she should get to the Áras, is as guest of honour at the chimp's tea party in the Zoo next door.

Catherine Connolly is deeply unserious, utterly naive and completely compromised person, whose opinions, interests and personal associations are absolutely out of alignment with those of this nation.

Not out of alignment with mine and definitely not with the Head of this state/nation for the last two presidential terms.
Try just speaking for yourself, it keeps your opinion credible.

Stand on your head refusing to see what to me is an obvious distinction. Made in the whole speech, not a nice handy phrase plucked out of it's context.

I will make a distinction about what you say:

Our army Defence Forces are the institution that is performing peace keeping operations.

We don't need an army with the 'military capability' for operations outside of a peacekeeping/defensive role. We need a properly resourced and paid Defence Force.

Wilfully misunderstand what she was saying all you wish but know what it is you are doing.

Eh?

Would love someone to ask her if we can't trust France UK and US then she must believe there are countries we can trust and who these are exactly

Recent British PM's and the current US president have tried to take a **** on our 'trust'.

We should look at what they do and call it what it is.

We should never have a consensus view that cannot be changed or questioned.

What some folk fail to see is that their rage might be motivated by the same indoctrination as they accuse Connolly of being affected by.

Ask yourself, when you pluck phrases out of their context, see anyone who questions as an enemy stooge etc.Are you being a useful idiot for somebody else's agenda?

Theres a difference in saying we cannot trust entire countries and saying we cannot always rely on their governments due to who might be elected.

Really?

We should never trust other countries. Respect them and their intentions until you need to step back and say, sorry, no, we don't agree with that.

Maybe the days of going bowl in hand to sit gushing at the right hand of world leaders are over.

LOL so your defence of her is when people say Army they might be referring to the navy or the air corps.... The desperate reaching to defend her ignorance and naivety is just becoming ridiculous

A problem for her is that she clearly would be a controversial Irish President. Plenty of Irish people would probably even agree with her on some of the points she is making, but she would be a bit of a diplomatic ticking time bomb with some of her strident criticism of NATO, the EU, the US, Ursula von der Leyen etc.

I would have no issue with her saying all this stuff during the presidential debates, but whether this would make her electable is quite another matter.

The idea that she stood up in the Dáil and praised the Defence Forces and called for proper funding and pay for them and then in her next sentence was talking about not needing them when she said 'army' is just fantastical and typical of folk who think they smell blood in the water when they find these things.