Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Our history of neutrality is a strong one and we, of course, hold it very dear. Our Defence Forces historically and currently have done us proud in making peace and keeping peace all over the world. Diplomatically, our stance of neutrality has informed our approach to nuclear disarmament, which has seen us act as a world leader in this area since the late 1950s. It was our resolutions that led to the creation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which has held as a bulwark against mass nuclearisation over the past six decades. In 2009 Ireland hosted a conference to ban cluster munitions and we have strong positions against chemical and biological weapons.

As a State we seek to protect and help the most vulnerable against the most belligerent. Our membership of the European Union and its Common Foreign and Security Policy, CFSP, and within that the Common Security and Defence Policy, CSDP, places our neutrality in a constant state of discussion, and in some quarters uncertainty. When motions like this appear on the Order Paper they can bring us into somewhat confusing waters.

During the course of the evolution of the EU’s CSDP, our EU partners have always fully respected Ireland’s sovereignty, independence and neutrality. The legal guarantees given by the European Council in June 2009 confirmed that the EU’s security and defence policy does not affect or prejudice Ireland’s traditional policy of military neutrality and Irish troops will not be deployed to any conflict zone or CSDP mission, without the triple lock of UN authorisation, Government approval and Dáil approval. Ireland’s sovereign right to decide to deploy, maintain or withdraw troops on the initiative of the Government and Dáil Éireann as provided for in the Defence Acts is fully protected.

Defining our neutrality in the early 20th century and during the Second World War was quite simple. The Cold War added some shades of grey but in essence our neutral stance was clear. The post-Cold War world with the evolution of the European Union with its Common Security and Defence Policy has created different challenges to our historic position of neutrality.

As an ever evolving body, however, with complex arrangements among what are soon to be 27 member states, the European Union makes matters a little more tricky. Arrangements are more complicated and multilateral and have different goals and objectives. It is through this complicated view that we need to discern what is a real threat to our deeply held position of neutrality and what measures benefit our own standing professional defence forces, of which we are very proud and wish to support.

The European Union's status of forces agreement is designed to regulate the legal and administrative arrangements in respect of particular privileges and immunities applicable to members of foreign forces operating within the state where they are deployed. I understand certain aspects of status of forces agreements might sound distasteful, providing as they do for immunities in relation to the nature of military equipment involved and the potential use of lethal force. Such wording makes those of us of the neutrality tradition instinctively recoil. However, we need to pause and realise our troops operate in dangerous environments when peacekeeping and such wording in legal texts is understandable and at times necessary. It does not mean that Defence Forces personnel will be given licence to operate with lethal force in an act of military aggression or crime. Some Deputies raised the issue of SOFAs in relation to the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison during the Iraq war and the protections they provided for US military personnel. I am 100% confident that the men and women of the Defence Forces would never need to test those particular limits of SOFAs.

We spend a lot of our time debating the pay and conditions of Defence Forces personnel. We talk about supporting our soldiers and ensuring they have dignity at work. In all of those debates we say how proud we are of the exemplary role they play on the global stage. We are and should be proud. However, if we do not ratify the SOFA, we will make it more difficult for the Defence Forces to practise professionally. This has been proved in recent years with our personnel excluded from some training operations. I support the Defence Forces at all levels and want to ensure they are able to participate in training exercises with our EU partner states. Motions like this are intermittent reminders to some in this House that our neutrality operates in a more complex multilateral environment. Ratifying the SOFA does not equate to a creep towards an EU army of aggression. It does not compromise the triple lock arrangements. It does not compromise our neutrality. Perhaps it is worth reminding the House that it has been signed by the other neutral and non-aligned countries in the European Union. The SOFA will make it easier for the Defence Forces to operate in the current environment and engage in multilateral and peacekeeping operations with our EU partners. It will give them legal certainty in situations which can be most uncertain.

Yesterday 67 Army cadets and one Air Corps cadet were commissioned at a ceremony in Dublin Castle. We all were excited to see the class graduate and enter the Defence Forces as officers. We want them to be proud to wear the uniform and know that we are proud of them, too. Issues of pay and conditions are recognised on the Opposition benches as ones that need to be resolved. We have Defence Forces personnel who have nowhere to call home as their housing arrangements are so insecure. In recognising the realities of individual soldiers we must also be mature and recognise the realities in which the Defence Forces operate on the international stage. We do not want our women and men to be stuck in dilapidated old barracks, from commissioning to retirement, awaiting an invasion by some foreign army. Our women and men want to be out in the world, improving their skills, keeping the peace, rescuing vulnerable migrants and making the world safer and better. Splendid isolation and blind eye neutrality are not the reality in the Ireland in 2019. Ours is a mature, sovereign state which has deep relationships with our EU partners. We have ensured during the years that the core tenets of our neutrality are protected, but, with that, we must recognise that our relationships require complex legal agreements to protect the men and women of the Defence Forces. The SOFA is one of them.

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