Mr. Patrick Smyth:

Our attitude to international peace is multifaceted. It involves neutrality on the one hand and it involves a strong commitment to the UN and its role in maintaining the peace. There was a reference in one phrase to neutralism and pacifism. I believe there is a confusion. Certain sections of the Irish neutrality lobby definitely try to associate neutralism with military pacifism, but that is not our foreign policy position.

To get back to how the Government defines it, the Government has a precise definition of military neutrality. It is non-involvement in Article 5 type commitments. Anything going towards that, such as involvement in the EU's increasing role as a military alliance, is acceptable in terms of the Government's definition. The point I was making is that there does not appear to be any inconsistency there.

In terms of defining political neutrality, Governments over time have said that Ireland has never been politically neutral. We did not join the Non-Aligned Movement, for example, when that was a big deal in the 1960s. Like it or not, and I do not necessarily like it, we sided politically with the West against the Soviet Union over the years. We are politically sympathetic to the values of western democracy. One cannot apply the term "neutral" in that context.