Why Neutrality?

Irish Neutrality league

IRISH NEUTRALITY:
A FORCE FOR PEACE

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to death, suffering, and human displacement. A cease-fire is urgently needed to prevent further escalation and loss of life.

Ireland’s history of neutrality, a long-standing principle, positions us as an impartial force for good, diplomacy, and conflict resolution within the international community. Consequently, Ireland has a key responsibility to encourage parties in conflict to engage in peace talks and negotiations with the clear goal of ending wars.

 

However, a steady erosion of Ireland’s neutrality has advanced, for example, hosting the US military at Shannon airport and funding the development of a European Union military industrial complex. Ireland is also attending NATO meetings and hinting at joining military alliances. 

 

Any further degradation of our neutrality compromises this vital role for international diplomacy during times of conflict and war and places Ireland precariously aligned to larger imperial Nations.

 

WHAT IS IRISH NEUTRALITY:

Neutrality is a principled position taken by Ireland that, under international law, requires impartiality in refraining from supporting or helping either side in a military conflict, thereby reducing the potential for prolonging or intensifying war. 

 

Irish neutrality is supported by 4 in 5 people in Ireland because it reflects Ireland’s identity and values internationally, and in practice, has kept Ireland out of the horrors of modern war and is the basis for providing a beneficial and positive role in global politics. “

 

In the 1937 Constitution of Ireland, Bunreacht na HÉireann, Article 28 states:

“War shall not be declared, and the State shall not participate in any war save with the assent of Dáil Éireann”

with Article 29 stating that :

“Ireland affirms its devotion to the ideal of peace and friendly cooperation amongst nations founded on international justice and morality.” 

 Article 29 also binds the Irish state to adhere to the “generally recognized principles of international law” and the “pacific settlement of international disputes”.
 
These two Articles of our Constitution hold the principles of Ireland’s position of Neutrality articulating Ireland’s independence from war alliances, its peace-seeking identity, and alignment with international efforts for justice. However, this is no longer sufficient to protect our position as a Neutral Nation considering the violations that have occurred. 
To reaffirm our Neutrality, we therefore seek a referendum to prevent this or future governments from playing politics with Irish Neutrality. This should also be strengthened by a European treaty protocol safeguarding Ireland’s Neutrality.

As a post-colonial nation, Ireland has suffered under imperialist conquest and occupation. Our history leads us to have no moral inclination towards usurping the right to self-determination of other people nor supporting those who do so.
 

BENEFITS OF IRISH NEUTRALITY:

The benefits of Irish Neutrality include:

 

  • Engagement in peace-keeping through impartiality and respect..
  • Not endangering people’s lives by aligning Ireland with aggressive military powers.

 

Irish Neutrality demonstrates that Ireland is a country that values its contributions to UN membership and that we can deploy our humanitarian services and diplomats on more robust and beneficial missions. This has shown to be highly beneficial in:

 

  • Opposing Apartheid in Africa
  • Opposing US funding of South American paramilitaries
  • Agreeing to a nuclear non-proliferation treaty
  • Providing aid and humanitarian relief to low-income countries
  • Decolonization initiatives
  • The nuclear weapons ban treaty that came into force January 2021

 

Irish Neutrality has ensured we have been striking an independent path for peace, allowing us to be a more established and effective agent for peace promotion within Europe. 

 

Shannon Airport:

Ireland’s Neutrality is being eroded by a succession of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments which have betrayed the popular will of the Irish people by aiding and abetting the US military in its destruction of Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Syria through decades of government policy which inexplicably allowed the US Army to effectively use Shannon as an overseas military base.

Such damage to our Neutrality is in Contravention of Article 28 and 29 of the constitution as well as the 1907 Hague Convention on Neutrality.

PESCO:

In 2017, Fine Gael rushed through a Dáil motion for Ireland to join PESCO – the Permanent Structured Cooperation. PESCO is described as “an ambitious, binding and inclusive European legal framework for investments in the security and defense of the EU’s territory”.
There is a legal imperative for participating states to:

  • ‘Regularly Increase their defense Budget’. The target figure for PESCO is 2% of GDP and in the Irish case, this would mean a five-fold increase to over €5 billion.  Money that could be spent on housing and hospital waiting lists will be diverted into the military.
  • Devote 20% of its total defense budget to spending on Military Equipment. Instead of a focus on manpower for civil projects such as flood relief, the EU will dictate the type of equipment needed for a fifth of the budget.
  • Agree to intensive involvement in a future European Defense Fund. This is about building up an EU arms industry so that huge profits can be made. Some of the weaponry will find its way into countries like Saudi Arabia which is currently involved in a barbaric campaign of bombing in Yemen.
  • PESCO also involves a heightened degree of cooperation with NATO. A declaration from the leaders of the EU and NATO stated that they will seek to synchronize the two organizations’ parallel crisis response activities with the goal of providing coherent support in response to hybrid threats.
 
PESCO is a breach of Ireland’s neutrality, and we should withdraw from it.
 

 

EU MILITARISATION:

EU leaders are trying to build Europe up as a military super-state and create an EU army. Ireland could abstain but the government is supporting these moves. Here are some of the key developments.

  • The Lisbon Treaty – which the Irish population originally rejected – requires us to ‘make civilian and military capabilities available to the Union for the implementation of the common security and defense policy.’
  • Ireland has joined a German-led Battle Group. These are composed of 1,500 military personnel ready for rapid deployment anywhere around the world.
  • Since 2014, the EU has invested more than €1.4bn in the Sahel, supporting and equipping military forces in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Mauritania. These have committed deadly violence against civilians.
  • The EU has established a European Defense Fund to support the arms industry. This arose directly out of lobbying. In 2015, for example, lobbyists for the arms industry had 327 meetings with EU Commissioners and cabinet members.
  • The EU has set up an ironically named European Peace Facility to strengthen military cooperation with third countries.
  • France’s President Emmanuel Macron has openly declared his desire for a ‘true European Army.’

 

There is increasing evidence of Ireland’s strategic relevance to NATO. Armed NATO member State vessels from Britain, Canada, France, and The Netherlands all docked in CORK Harbor in violation of our Neutrality in 2022.

DOUBLE STANDARDS TOWARDS PALESTINE

Ireland’s decaying neutrality is demonstrated in its treatment of the people of Palestine.

Ireland was the first European state to declare that a solution to the oppression of the Palestinian people would be a fully sovereign Palestinian state. However, the lack of serious sanctions against the Israeli government demonstrates that our foreign policy is deeply flawed which has led to settler colonialism secured through apartheid, illegal occupation, brutal violence, collective punishment, and the mass imprisonment of Gazans. Given Ireland’s own history of being colonized we should work actively towards supporting Palestinian self-determination.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fail’s blocking of the Occupied Territories Bill which would see the banning of all goods and services produced in illegally occupied territories of Israel only – a moderate and reasonable bill underlines the hypocrisy of their international outlook.

The Israeli military’s treatment of Palestinian people has been confirmed as an occupation by the International Criminal Court, while the treatment of the Palestinian people by Israeli settlers and the Israeli military is beyond brutality and a serious abuse of human rights.

 
 

 

ESCALATIONS IN UKRAINE:

There have been simmering tensions between Russia and Ukraine for many years. In the East of Ukraine a significant minority of Russian speaking people have sought independence or autonomy from Ukraine citing ethnic attacks by Ukrainian Nationalists following instability after the Euro maiden clashes in 2014.

The People in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk declared Republics and engaged militarily with the Ukrainian army culminating in an Internationally brokered ceasefire resulting in the Minsk agreements which were ultimately broken.

Regardless of the cause, however disputed, Russia has since broken international law in invading Ukraine and is condemned for this aggression. What is also clear is the influence of the US, the EU, and NATO which, in providing military and financial assistance to Ukraine have escalated tensions into a larger conflict involving Nuclear Powers.

On 30 September 2022, Russia declared its annexation of four Ukrainian territories – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

PROTECT AND ASSERT IRELAND’S NEUTRALITY:

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Saudi / UAE invasion of Yemen must be condemned equally. The escalation of these wars by certain NATO powers for their own ends must also be condemned.  

 

The Russian military must withdraw from Ukraine and the Saudi and UAE military forces from Yemen. NATO powers should stop escalating these brutal wars. 

 

The right of both the Ukrainian and Yemeni people to defend themselves from these hostile acts of aggression is recognized but all efforts should be made to get unconditional ceasefires and for diplomatic negotiations to bring about lasting peace.