Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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I think the proposal is entirely reasonable. The Green Paper on Defence wrongly states that Ireland's traditional policy of military neutrality has its origins in the country's declared neutrality during the Second World War. Many of us from a republican tradition argue that the Irish impulse to neutrality far predates that. We maintain it goes back to the time of Wolfe Tone. He produced a pamphlet on Britain and Spain in 1790. Our neutrality has been very much part of that tradition.

My party is rather critical of the response of the State in respect of neutrality issues. We should recommend forcefully to the Department that it should include this reference. There has been an attempt in recent years to try to undermine Irish neutrality. Clearly, the fact that it has been left out of a policy statement from the Department sends a signal that this is not central to the policy of the State. I agree wholeheartedly with the proposal.